In 2024, Denver Medicaid providers billed $230,416 for services listed under the Dental Services category, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This figure was up 102% compared to 2023, when the total for the same service type stood at $114,046.
Medicaid, the public health insurance initiative administered by the states and financed through both federal and state government funding, supports low-income groups, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities. This makes it a central piece of the U.S. health care landscape.
Since Medicaid payments are supported by taxpayers, fluctuations in local billing figures reflect how community health care funds are distributed.
The “Dental Services” category encompasses a set of Medicaid-billed services as categorized by care type, relying on standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. For this analysis, each billing code was designated to a single service category based on uniform code prefixes and numeric groupings, enabling analysts to review related service types collectively, prevent duplications, and sustain accurate year-by-year rankings.
While other categories also saw increases in Medicaid spending, Dental Services represented the third-largest category in Denver by total Medicaid payments in 2024.
The Dental Services category ranked ninth by total Medicaid payments for the state of North Carolina in 2024.
Between 2019 and 2024, the total value of Medicaid payments tied to Dental Services in Denver jumped by $155,334, or 206.9%. Spending accelerated further at specific points, with significant annual increases seen in 2021 and 2020.
Payments in the Dental Services category were distributed citywide, but showed concentration in a small group of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 28037 registered $230,416 in Medicaid payments for Dental Services. The top ZIP code accounted for 100% of all such Medicaid payments in Denver during the year.
Spending within the Dental Services category was also focused on a modest number of specific billing codes.
For reference, Medicaid payments for Dental Services in Denver increased by 102% from 2023 to 2024, while overall Medicaid claim payments in the city changed by only 2.1% across all categories during that time.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joint federal and state Medicaid spending totaled approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, about 18% of all national health care expenditures, a sharp increase from $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This growth reflects about a 40% jump within several years, driven mainly by increases in enrollment and higher service utilization during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures passed during the Trump administration have proposed notable reductions to federal Medicaid allocations and program restructuring. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to trim over $1 trillion from federal Medicaid funding over the next decade, imposing work requirements and higher cost-sharing, potentially impacting coverage and fiscal resources for beneficiaries. These reforms would likely shift greater financial responsibility to states and limit further federal Medicaid growth, although the program will still cover tens of millions across the country.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $75,082 | 26.6% |
| 2021 | $98,145 | 30.7% |
| 2022 | $109,564 | 11.6% |
| 2023 | $114,046 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | $230,416 | 102% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $1,216,662 | 42.8% |
| 2 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $1,145,203 | 40.3% |
| 3 | Dental Services | $230,416 | 8.1% |
| 4 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $180,496 | 6.4% |
| 5 | Surgery | $25,724 | 0.9% |
| 6 | Durable Medical Equipment | $23,780 | 0.8% |
| 7 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $17,586 | 0.6% |
| 8 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $1,467 | 0.1% |
| 9 | Procedures / Professional Services | $492 | <0.1% |
| 10 | Temporary Codes | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $93,691 | 75 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $23,888 | 21 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $23,834 | 29 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $21,986 | 58 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $19,620 | 38 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $13,049 | 23 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $12,185 | 29 |
| D0240 | Intraoral occlusal film | $11,099 | 11 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $10,414 | 17 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $646 | 2 |
Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.
Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.
