Georgia’s Department of Community Health has failed to adopt recommendations made in a 2021 audit that were meant to improve children’s access to dental care under Medicaid, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported Sept. 30.
Six notes:
1. The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts Performance Audit Division performed an audit of the state’s Medicaid program in 2021, highlighting the declining dental care utilization rate among children enrolled in Medicaid.
2. An August 2025 follow-up review found worsening conditions, with utilization declining further to just 28%.
3. The decline was attributed to a lack of coordinated, data-driven management by the Department of Community Health, with the audit reporting that DCH “did not routinely analyze claims to evaluate services provided and identify differences between subpopulations and geographic areas.”
4. The follow-up review found that the issues identified in the 2021 audit remain largely unresolved.
5. Some of the failures identified in the report include DCH discontinuing quarterly reviews of dental claims data and not analyzing provider networks.
6. DCH has made efforts to resume some of the processes that were discontinued, according to Rena Harris, chief program officer for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities.
