During the 2024 Maryland General Assembly, legislation was introduced to require the Maryland Department of Health to annually review program reimbursement rates for all dental health codes with the goal of establishing a minimum 60 percent fee schedule of commercial rates.

We believe that this exercise will be critical in helping make the case to increase reimbursement rates. We know that many new dentists come out of dental school with a staggering amount of debt. They must make difficult choices about paying student loans, buying homes, and establishing roots in a community, with providing patient care and being compensated at non-livable reimbursement rates. 

It's become clear that without an increase in reimbursement rates, we will not see new dentists providing care for this population.

Instead of pushing this legislation, however, we worked with the chair of the Health and Government Operations Committee to develop a plan that would garner the necessary information in a manner that would create a little more urgency for the department. 

In that vein, Chair Peña Melnyk personally sent a letter this week to the Department of Health asking for this very same Medicaid data. The review is to include all Maryland Healthy Smiles fee schedules, including specialty services such as orthodontic procedures.

She has been assured that the data is available, and she has asked for it prior to the next legislative session. 

We are so very grateful to Chair Peña Melnyk for her steadfast commitment to oral health care!