Division of Dental Health, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2024 Aug 29;13(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s13584-024-00630-y.
The 2010 Child Dental Care Reform of the National Health Insurance Law marked a turning point in the Israeli oral healthcare system by establishing Universal Health Coverage of dental care for children. Initially, the reform included children up to age 8 and gradually expanded to age 18 in 2019. The basket of services includes preventive and restorative treatments provided by the four Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO). The aim of this study was to examine the uptake of child dental services during the first decade of the reform.
A retrospective analysis was conducted to determine the treatment uptake, type and amount of the services delivered based on annual service utilization reports submitted by the HMOs to the Ministry of Health in the years 2011-2022.
The number of insured children increased from 1,546,857 in 2011 to 3,178,238 in 2022. The uptake of dental services gradually increased during the study period with a slight decrease in 2020. The percentage of children who used the services gradually increased from 8 to 33%, with the incremental inclusion of additional age groups. From 2012 onwards the most common treatments provided were preventive, however the single most common treatment was dental restoration. In 2022 35% of the population of Israel was under the age of 18. Out of these, about a third received dental treatment via the HMOs. This is a significant achievement, since before the reform all treatments were paid out-of-pocket. After a short period of increasing uptake, a stable service utilization pattern was evident that can indicate better public awareness and service acceptance.
Although this is a reasonable uptake, additional efforts are required to increase the number of children receiving dental care within the public insurance. Such an effort can be part of a multi-disciplinary approach, in which pediatricians and public health nurses can play a vital role in dental caries prevention, enhancement of awareness and service utilization.
2010 年《国民健康保险法》中的儿童牙科保健改革标志着以色列口腔保健系统的一个转折点，为儿童提供了牙科保健的全民健康覆盖。最初，该改革涵盖了 8 岁以下的儿童，并在 2019 年逐步扩大到 18 岁。服务篮子包括由四个健康维护组织（HMO）提供的预防和修复治疗。本研究的目的是在改革的第一个十年中检查儿童牙科服务的利用率。
对 HMO 向卫生部提交的 2011-2022 年年度服务利用报告进行回顾性分析，以确定治疗的利用情况、提供的服务类型和数量。
参保儿童人数从 2011 年的 1546857 人增加到 2022 年的 3178238 人。在研究期间，牙科服务的利用率逐渐增加，2020 年略有下降。接受服务的儿童比例从 8%逐渐增加到 33%，随着年龄组的逐步增加。从 2012 年起，最常见的治疗方法是预防性的，但最常见的单一治疗方法是牙齿修复。2022 年，以色列 35%的人口年龄在 18 岁以下。其中，约三分之一的人通过 HMO 接受了牙科治疗。这是一个重大成就，因为在改革之前，所有的治疗都是自费的。在利用率增加的短时期后，稳定的服务利用模式表明公众意识和服务接受度有所提高。
尽管利用率较高，但仍需要进一步努力增加公共保险范围内接受牙科保健的儿童人数。这种努力可以是多学科方法的一部分，儿科医生和公共卫生护士可以在龋齿预防、提高意识和服务利用方面发挥重要作用。
