359 - Emergency Department Utilization Rates Pre & Post Medicaid Expansion in NJ

Purpose: Children without health insurance are less likely to have a dental home and less likely to receive routine dental care.  This puts them at higher risk for developing carious lesions that progress to dental abscesses and painful infections.  These children are more likely to need urgent care for preventable dental disease and often end up in hospital Emergency Departments for non-traumatic dental emergencies.  Care delivered in hospital emergency departments costs significantly more than services provided in a dental office, and is rarely definitive treatment.

In 2021, the “Cover all kids” ACT (P.L. 2021, c.132) provided Medicaid coverage for residents of New Jersey under the age of 19. In 2023, $11 million dollars in new funding expanded coverage regardless of immigration status.  Therefore thousands more New Jersey’s children became eligible for health coverage as of January 1, 2023. 

Methods: This study evaluated differences in utilization rates of University Hospital’s Emergency Department (UHED) for non-traumatic dental emergencies pre and post Medicaid expansion, by examining records for patients reporting to UHED for non-traumatic dental emergencies in the year before (2022) and the year after (2023) enactment.  Eligible records were identified by searching for ICD-10-CM codes related to oral pain and dental caries/dental abscess for individuals aged 19 years and younger who presented to UHED in the selected time frames. 

Results: Final data pending

Conclusion: Final data pending


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