AHRQ Updates Data on Use of Dental Services
AHRQ Stats: Trends in Number of Individuals Using Dental Care
Around 131 million people—40.8 percent of the total U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population—utilized dental care in 2020. This represented a decline of 18 million people when compared with the 149 million people who utilized dental care in 2019. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #555, Dental Utilization and Expenditures, U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population Aged 2 and Older, 2019-2021.)
New Analysis Documents Pandemic’s Impact on Healthcare Use
Outpatient visits, emergency department visits, and inpatient admissions each fell about 35 percent in April 2020 in the United States, as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was experienced nationwide, a recent AHRQ study found. The study, an analysis of AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data published in the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, reviewed healthcare utilization from 2018 to 2020. The researchers found that dental visits fell more than 80 percent, ophthalmology visits declined 71 percent, and mammograms fell 82 percent, but psychiatric visits rose slightly. By the end of 2020, specialist physician visits recovered; however, primary care and dental visits remained 12 percent lower than in 2019. MEPS is the Nation’s most complete source of data on the cost and use of healthcare and health insurance coverage. Access the abstract.
