General Info for Dentists
Participating Dentists
​
Frequently Asked Questions for Dentists
​
Will I need to take referrals on as regular patients?
No. Students referred to your office will continue to receive preventive services and exams through Bridging Brighter Smiles and the Verona Smiles initiative. If the student needs future care, they will be referred to whatever office is associated with their school.
Does my office need to get BadgerCare certified?
No. If you choose to see Verona students in your office, you can do it in one of three ways:
-
Volunteer care.
-
Subcontract via Verona Smiles.
-
Get BadgerCare certified and bill the State of Wisconsin directly.
Each office will choose how they want to provide care.
​
In addition, dentists will be asked to report care provided via Verona Smiles so outcomes can be tracked and reported. Verona Smiles also intends to bill the BadgerCare program for services provided by Verona Smiles dentists. These revenues will support staffing and care coordination. As such, participating dentists who don’t plan on billing the BadgerCare program directly will be asked to get certified under the umbrella of Verona Smiles. Your office will not be identified as a Medicaid provider. However, if a dentist prefers not to provide their NPI and be certified, they are welcome to do unreported volunteer care.
If I decide to get BadgerCare certification through Verona Smiles, will I be required to see Medicaid patients?
No. Any participation or certification is specific to the Verona Smiles initiative.
Will we provide orthodontics or any other specialty care?
At this point, specialty care is not included. However, for children with emergent or severe needs, Verona Smiles will try to secure any necessary care.
​
How Hometown Smiles
Works for Dentists
​
If a dentist and his/her team wants to participate, here’s how it works:
​
Identify a staff person to be your office lead for the Hometown Smiles initiative.
An essential piece of the Hometown Smiles initiative is to build strong relationships between schools and local dental offices. Each office and each school will have a lead contact person to assure a strong and smooth partnership.
​
Decide what you want to do.
Dentists can decide how they want to participate. Dentists can be in the schools doing exams. They can decide to see kids in their office for restorative or emergency care. They can take only emergency appointments. Whatever you do will help assure every student has a healthy and pain-free mouth.
Do dentistry, don’t deal with logistics.
The goal of the Hometown Smiles initiative is to get care to kids. To do that, dentists will only have to do what they do every day. If you come to the schools, everything will be set up and waiting for Hometown Smiles dentists. The exam chairs, x-rays, care coordination, and all logistics will be taken care of by the Hometown Smiles staff. If students are referred to your office, you’ll treat them like any other patient. All you have to do is take care of kids in need.
​
Build Lasting Relationships.
Hometown Smiles dentists will help guarantee that any kid in your community who needs care gets it. In doing so, there will be a unique partnership between school leaders, dentists, and community leaders. Once in place, Hometown Smiles will work to nurture and maintain strong relationships to assure a lasting impact on the lives of our children.
