Administrative burden and the association with dentists' participation in two Iowa Medicaid managed care organizations

Access to dental services for Medicaid recipients relies substantially on dentists’ participation in state Medicaid programs. However, many private practice dentists limit their acceptance of new Medicaid patients, pointing to administrative challenges such as excessive paperwork, payment delays, and reimbursement denials. While these barriers are well documented, few studies have examined how administrative burdens relate to accepting new Medicaid patients across different managed care organizations (MCOs) within one state.