Healthcare network Community Health Programs is carrying out a $6 million expansion of its dental care services in Berkshire County aimed at residents with public healthcare plans. CHP locations in North Adams, Pittsfield, and Great Barrington collectively serve around 35,000 Berkshire residents. All the practices will expand during the project, which also includes a new family-oriented dental office opening in Adams next year.
CEO Lia Spiliotes says because only a few regional dental practices accept MassHealth coverage, almost half of the 25,000 Medicaid patients in the county are receiving little to no dental care. She spoke with WAMC about why CHP is making the move now.
SPILIOTES: Dental health really is the foundation of good health, and it all starts in your mouth. And people who don't have good dental care or access to dental care frequently find themselves with other issues like diabetes, like depression, like things that are around mental health issues that affect them. So it's important to get at the source, which is I hate to say, pardon the pun, but get to the root of the issue, which is really dealing effectively with the care that people have that starts in their mouths.
WAMC: Now, the move comes at the same time as an increase in MassHealth reimbursements for dental care. Can you explain to me what exactly those reimbursements look like and how it plays into this larger effort CHP is taking on?
So there's a difference in reimbursement rates between private practices and an organization like Community Health Programs, which is a community health center. And as such, we receive a small amount of our funding, but funding no less from the federal government. And in return, we have to- We don't have to, but we do take anybody and everybody regardless of their ability to pay. The difference also, is that federally qualified health centers, community health centers, really have a diverse amount of, of conditions that they support everything from medical issues, to dental issues, to behavioral health issues, to women's health issues to pediatrics. And so it really is a healthcare home as opposed to just dealing only with dental care. So the- MassHealth have raised our reimbursement rates about 65% from last year. And we're now getting an add-on fee, which was something that we weren't previously reimbursed for. So there's, there are reimbursement advantages to being a federally qualified health center. And I think that is the primary difference between private practice and community health centers with respect to dental, but the big difference is that a federally qualified health center or community health center really is a holistic health care home. You go there and you get a variety of services, and everything to family services, dealing with parents and children, teaching people about nutrition. It's really the whole spectrum of things.
Leah, is there anything about this expansion that I have not thought to ask you that you think is important to get out there?
I think the thing that's really important is that people need to recognize that dental care isn't really just an isolated thing, and it, increasingly, it disproportionately affects those people who do not have access to health care, do not have health care insurance, do not have the money to go to a private practice. So it disproportionately affects the poor and the underserved. I think that's one thing. And I think the other thing to realize is that it is just all over, not just, it's not just Berkshire County, it's over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but all over the United States. Ee're not facing anything different. We just have a concentration of people in Berkshire County that we're addressing. So, I think it's a nationwide concern, not just something that's only exists in Berkshire County.
