Kansas advocates push to finish Medicaid dental rate increase, request $12 million to sustain provider growth
Loading...
Summary
Dental providers and advocates urged the Committee on Social Services Budget to fund the final $12 million SGF to complete a Medicaid dental rate increase, arguing early gains in provider participation require continued investment to preserve access for low‑income Kansans.
Testimony before the Committee on Social Services Budget on Jan. 28 centered on finishing a multiyear Medicaid dental rate increase to stabilize and grow the provider network that serves children and adults enrolled in KanCare. Advocates said the partial increase approved last year produced measurable gains but left a funding gap that risks reversing progress.
Speakers including Janelle Shoemaker of Adventure Dental, pediatric dentist Jill Jenkins, Dr. Mary Anne Lynch Small of Oral Health Kansas and Tanya Dorf Bruner from Bridal Health Kansas told the committee that Kansas still lags neighboring states in dentist participation in Medicaid and that low reimbursement drives fewer providers to accept KanCare patients. "Increasing Medicaid dental reimbursements is a public health investment," Shoemaker said, citing provider participation rates and warning of longer waits, delayed treatment and preventable emergency care when access narrows.
Oral Health Kansas requested $12,000,000 in state general funds to complete the rate increase. Dr. Lynch Small said the unfinished increase means Kansas still pays many services well below neighboring states and that the additional funds would pair with federal matching dollars to create a sustainable network. She said the partial July increase produced an early net gain of roughly 20 new providers but that overall provider losses over prior years have not been offset.
Advocates described the increase as cost‑effective: by expanding preventive care, they say the state can reduce advanced dental procedures, emergency department visits for dental complaints and long‑term health complications tied to poor oral health. The Kansas Dental Association voiced support for the $12 million request and separately asked for a $55,000 increase to the Dental Lifeline Network donated services coordinator, which would bring that program's state funding from $70,000 to $125,000 and cover administrative support for matching volunteer dentists to elderly and disabled Kansans.
Committee members asked presenters about capacity and the pace at which newly funded increases could be absorbed. Tanya Dorf Bruner said a facilitator program launched last year is now operational and is actively supporting new providers through credentialing and onboarding; she said the network is ready to scale now that implementation tools are in place. Presenters repeatedly cautioned that without finishing the planned increase the state risks losing momentum and prompting more providers to exit the Medicaid program.
The hearing yielded no formal vote. Staff and committee members requested fiscal notes and county‑level or program‑level data to estimate the full price of proposed increases and to help weigh funding tradeoffs. The next procedural step will be staff fiscal analysis and possible inclusion of the request in KDHE budget recommendations to appropriations panels.
