Why doubling Health Care for the Homeless' dental clinic is a big deal

The dental clinic is expected to see about 1,200 patients in 2015, but demand for services is much higher, Lindamood said.

Adult dental care is not covered by Maryland Medicaid plans, the government health program that insures about 80 percent of the clinic’s patients. Since dental care is expensive to pay for out of pocket, patients rely on Health Care for the Homeless for treatment.

At the same time the fact that Medicaid does not cover adult dental care strains Health Care for the Homeless’ ability to pay for the service.

About 90 percent of Health Care for the Homeless’ patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid and typically the clinic bills these government programsfor patients’ health services. Since Medicaid will does not pay for adult dental care in Maryland, Health Care for the Homeless instead supports its dental clinic with grants and donations from dental organizations.

With the federal grant — $267,000 a year for two years — Health Care for the Homeless can hire a second dentist, a dental assistant, bringing its total staff to six. The money will also mean the clinic can extend its hours, opening at 7 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m and seeing patients on Saturdays. All told, the clinic should be able to see about twice as many patients, about 2,400 a year.

Lindamood expects the changes to take effect at the beginning of next year.
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2015/09/23/why-doubling-health-care-for-the-homeless-dental.html

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