Minnesota Law Aims to Revamp Medicaid Dental Benefits and Launch Dental Home Demonstration Project

A bill that was recently signed into law in Minnesota aims to increase dental benefits and access to care for Medicaid enrollees in the state. HF 33 is an omnibus health and human services bill that amends the state’s Medicaid dental benefits in the following ways:

• It expands coverage of adult dental services to include coverage of nonsurgical treatment for periodontal disease, including scaling and root planing once every two years for each quadrant, and routine periodontal maintenance procedures.
• It requires the Minnesota Commissioner of Human Services to review Medicaid dental program delivery systems in states with a dental carve out, and to analyze dental provider hesitancy to enroll as a provider.
• It establishes a performance benchmark under which at least 55% children and adults who were continuously enrolled for at least 11 months in either medical assistance or MinnesotaCare through a managed care or county-based purchasing plan received at least one dental visit during the coverage year. Corrective action is required if a managed care or county-based purchasing plan has a rate of dental utilization that is 10% or more below the performance benchmark.
• It requires the Dental Services Advisory Committee, in collaboration with specified stakeholders, to design a dental home demonstration project and present recommendations by Feb. 1, 2022, to the Commissioner of Human Services and the Minnesota Legislature.
• It requires the Commissioner to submit annual reports, beginning March 15, 2022, and ending March 15, 2026, to the Legislature on dental utilization by adults and children for both fee-for-service and the prepaid medical assistance program.