SENATE MEMORIAL 96

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF ORAL HEALTH OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY WAYS TO EXPAND MEDICAID COVERAGE TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL DENTAL CARE TO CHILDREN.

     WHEREAS, oral health is just as important as physical and mental health; and

     WHEREAS, tooth decay, or cavities, is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood in the United States and New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the percentage of children and adolescents aged five to nineteen years with untreated tooth decay is twice as high for those children and adolescents from low-income families, indicating that the current oral health care system does not adequately address their needs; and

     WHEREAS, the medical assistance division of the human services department offers dental health care coverage though a medicaid program or a waiver;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the office of oral health of the department of health be requested to convene a task force to study ways that medicaid coverage can be expanded to provide additional dental care to children; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to study:

          A. expansion of participation in the dental care provider network accepting medicaid;

          B. increasing the number of providers enrolled in medicaid;

          C. reimbursement rates to medicaid providers;

          D. ways to increase access for medicaid patients; and

          E. ways to drive down the number and cost of medicaid acute dental visits over time; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be composed of representatives from the medical assistance division of the human services department, the New Mexico dental association, the New Mexico oral health advisory committee, the New Mexico dental hygienists' association, the New Mexico pediatric society, the department of dental medicine at the university of New Mexico, health action New Mexico, the New Mexico oral health coalition and the Indian health service Albuquerque area; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force report its findings and recommendations to the legislative health and human services committee and the legislative finance committee by November 1, 2019; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health, the director of the medical assistance division of the human services department, the president of the New Mexico dental association, the New Mexico oral health advisory committee, the president of the New Mexico dental hygienists' association, the president of the New Mexico pediatric society, the president of the university of New Mexico, the board president of health action New Mexico, the chair of the New Mexico oral health coalition and the director of the Indian health service Albuquerque area.

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