UPDATE: Sterling Dental has reached an agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on payments and will not suspend services to 360 Kansans affected by a backlog of Medicaid applications.
About 350 elderly and disabled Kansans are suddenly without dental care after an Oklahoma City company informed nursing homes that it was suspending services for Kansas residents whose Medicaid applications are still pending. Sterling Dental sends dentists to nursing homes in Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. But ongoing problems with the Kansas Medicaid application process have left some residents waiting almost a year for coverage and Sterling has decided it can no longer wait to be paid. Cindy Luxem is the leader of a nursing home advocacy group. She says Sterling’s announcement is more evidence that the year-long Medicaid application backlog is affecting care in Kansas.
That's Cindy Luxem, president of the Kansas Health Care Association, speaking earlier this week.