Health Serv Res. 2026 Apr;61(2):e70111. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.70111.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the November 2022 Massachusetts Dental Loss Ratio ballot initiative was associated with an increase in dental service prices.
DATA SOURCES AND ANALYTIC SAMPLE: We used quarterly price data from the Fluent DentaBase commercial claims dental database. Data was aggregated by state and quarter. We extracted data for Massachusetts and five comparison states: Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island from Quarter 1, 2022 through Quarter 2, 2025.
STUDY DESIGN: To account for the small number of states in our study, we used a pre-intervention unit-demeaning difference-in-differences estimator. We estimated cross-sectional regressions to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated over the entire post-intervention period after Quarter 4, 2022 and quarter-specific treatment effects. Exact inference was used to ascertain statistical significance of policy effects.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Allowed prices for dental procedures increased 5.2% (95% CI: 2.3%-8.0%), and the insurer discount applied to submitted charges declined 2.8 percentage points (95% CI: -5.3 to -0.19 percentage points) relative to the comparison states.
CONCLUSIONS: Prior to full implementation of the dental loss ratio requirement in 2025, dental insurers in Massachusetts increased reimbursement to dentists to possibly meet the required dental loss ratio threshold.
PMID:41937189 | DOI:10.1111/1475-6773.70111
