IADR Abstract Archives
Dental Problems Seen in Michigan Hospital Emergency Departments
Objectives: Emergency departments (ED) are critical to the United States healthcare system and also serve as an important stop gap for individuals who lack dental coverage. Our nation’s healthcare system and ED’s continue to struggle with inadequate resources to provide definitive dental care for vulnerable patients who disproportionately suffer from dental-related complaints, often facing insurmountable difficulties in accessing timely and affordable dental care.
Methods: This study is an analysis on dental-related ED utilization in Michigan. We collaborated with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association who provided data from the Michigan Inpatient and Outpatient Database for submitted dental-related hospital ED visits in Michigan hospitals during 2018 and 2019. Age, race, ethnicity, payer type, and dental condition type were among the demographics noted. We evaluated the characteristics of dental-related hospital visits in Michigan and IRB exemption provided (HUM00192629).
Results: Medicaid (33%) and Medicare (33%) were the most common payer types for patients with dental-related conditions who reported to Michigan ED’s from 2018 to 2019. Charges per ED encounter was the highest for Medicare, $2,900-$3,200, and lowest for other payers, $1,300-$1,500. Charges for ED-inpatient per encounter were the highest for Medicare ($22,000-$24,000). The age range for which patients most frequently presented to the ED was 25–64. However, expenses per encounter for patients 65 and older were roughly two to three times higher than for patients in other age ranges. Our study revealed a disproportionately higher percentage of patients who identified as Black presented to Michigan ED’s (30%) with a dental-related emergency.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest the existence of race-related healthcare disparities with regard to dental care. In the future, we hope to expand our dataset to a national scale that would include many other states beyond Michigan. This would help to aid nationwide efforts in mitigating dental-related health disparities.
Methods: This study is an analysis on dental-related ED utilization in Michigan. We collaborated with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association who provided data from the Michigan Inpatient and Outpatient Database for submitted dental-related hospital ED visits in Michigan hospitals during 2018 and 2019. Age, race, ethnicity, payer type, and dental condition type were among the demographics noted. We evaluated the characteristics of dental-related hospital visits in Michigan and IRB exemption provided (HUM00192629).
Results: Medicaid (33%) and Medicare (33%) were the most common payer types for patients with dental-related conditions who reported to Michigan ED’s from 2018 to 2019. Charges per ED encounter was the highest for Medicare, $2,900-$3,200, and lowest for other payers, $1,300-$1,500. Charges for ED-inpatient per encounter were the highest for Medicare ($22,000-$24,000). The age range for which patients most frequently presented to the ED was 25–64. However, expenses per encounter for patients 65 and older were roughly two to three times higher than for patients in other age ranges. Our study revealed a disproportionately higher percentage of patients who identified as Black presented to Michigan ED’s (30%) with a dental-related emergency.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest the existence of race-related healthcare disparities with regard to dental care. In the future, we hope to expand our dataset to a national scale that would include many other states beyond Michigan. This would help to aid nationwide efforts in mitigating dental-related health disparities.