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Justin Hinkley: So I know that we are at least 400 dentists short, according to the states latest oral health plan, and that is statewide. Most of that shortage is in the rural parts of the state, so especially up north and some other spots in Western Michigan, but 400 statewide are needed.
David Nicholas: There have been studies in the past in different healthcare fields and other professions as well about attrition due to a cycle of projected retirements and so forth. Is there a projection that that will get substantially worse if we're looking at, again, a number who may be leaving the profession at some point in the near future.
JH: Yes. So I don't have that number for the state specifically, but I know that nationally right now we're 3400 dentists short. This is according to federal data, but they projected by 2037 we’ll be 12,000 dentists short, so we are graduating about 7000 dentists a year, a little bit less than that, but it's not keeping up with the attrition. That you mentioned.
DN: Justin, can there be an option at all to put any incentives or contracts in place. I know that we've tried this in other areas of medical care to try to make sure that these areas do get served and that folks that come from an area, perhaps return to that area or agree to serve in an area, can anything like that potentially be an answer to this problem?
JH: Absolutely, so the state just recently hired a rural health consultant, a rural oral health consultant, and that person is going to be looking at these issues. But yeah, some of the things that they talked about is working with the dentistry schools in Michigan to launch a rural health track similar to what they have for MD's.
They've talked about expanded loan forgiveness, they've talked about mentorships, is a big thing that they're doing through the Dental Association, where northern Michigan dentists are working with students at the dentistry schools to encourage them to move up north once they graduate, so mentorships is a big thing.
So there's lots of things on the table that they hope will work, but it's going to take time for any of these things to work, and so the shortage is going to be there for some time.
DN: In your reporting you also referred to concerns over a lack of dental insurance coverage. Is that a trend that we see more for those in some of these rural areas that maybe they don't have access to, or are not opting to have dental insurance, and this is also creating another obstacle and an issue at play.
JH: Absolutely, so Medicare does not cover dental services, so you have to buy supplemental insurance if you have Medicare to get dental coverage. Medicaid does cover dental programs, and the state recently raised the Medicaid reimbursement rates to try and encourage more dentists to accept Medicaid, but there is some concern with the discussions happening in Washington right now about budget cuts and what the impact on Medicaid might be.
DN: Justin Hinckley with Bridge, Michigan. Thanks very much for your reporting on this and for taking the time to talk with us today.
JH: Thanks for having me.
