CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Medi-Cal Dental Program Criticized

A federal judge ruled that Medi-Cal patients have been denied adequate access to dental care and ordered Kenneth W. Kizer, state health services director, to devise a plan for getting more dentists to participate in the program. In deciding on a suit brought on behalf of all Medi-Cal recipients, the state federal health care program for the poor, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton concluded that “only 12.5% of active dentists (were) accepting new (Medi-Cal) patients,” a level that falls “dismally below” federal requirements. Karlton’s ruling was considered likely to require the state to increase payments for dental services, reduce paper work and, perhaps, open dental clinics in counties with few participating dentists.