Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows Palm Harbor Medicaid providers generated $493,197 in claims for services designated under Dental Services in 2024. This figure represents a 29.4% rise compared with 2023, when providers billed $381,141 in the same category.
Medicaid, operated by the states and financed by both federal and state governments, offers health coverage to low-income residents, older adults, children, and people with disabilities, making it a major part of the U.S. health care sector.
Since Medicaid funding originates from taxpayers, changes in local billing levels reflect how public health care resources are distributed within the community.
The “Dental Services” category groups Medicaid-billed procedures by care type, following standardized HCPCS and CPT coding. This analysis used consistent code prefixes and ranges to assign each billing code to a single service grouping, which enables related services to be reviewed together, prevents double counting, and maintains accurate year-to-year rankings.
Although several Medicaid service categories saw spending growth, Dental Services ranked fifth for total Medicaid payments in Palm Harbor for 2024.
Statewide, Dental Services ranked 15th in Florida by overall Medicaid payments in 2024.
From 2019 through 2024, Medicaid spending attributed to Dental Services in Palm Harbor climbed by $31,019, or 5.9%. Notable increases year-over-year were observed in 2020 and 2022 as growth picked up pace during some periods.
Spending on Dental Services was distributed citywide, but most payments were concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 34684 accounted for $492,312 and 34683 for $885, combining to make up 100% of Medicaid Dental Services payments in Palm Harbor for the year.
Within the Dental Services group, Medicaid payments also concentrated among a narrow set of billing codes.
By comparison, Medicaid Dental Services payments in Palm Harbor increased 29.4% from 2023 to 2024, while all Medicaid claim categories in the area saw a 28.9% increase in the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures totaled approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, around 18% of the nation’s total health costs, rising sharply from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This represents a roughly 40% increase over several years, due mostly to higher enrollment and greater health care utilization during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures enacted during the Trump administration featured several major proposals to trim federal Medicaid spending and restructure the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” approved in 2025, is estimated to reduce federal Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over 10 years and adds requirements such as work mandates and increased out-of-pocket costs, likely limiting coverage and funding for some recipients. These shifts are expected to assign more funding responsibility to states and slow federal Medicaid spending growth, even as the program continues to cover tens of millions nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $524,215 | 997.3% |
| 2021 | $33,255 | -93.7% |
| 2022 | $234,726 | 605.8% |
| 2023 | $381,140 | 62.4% |
| 2024 | $493,197 | 29.4% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $5,815,140 | 52.8% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $2,761,556 | 25.1% |
| 3 | Temporary Codes | $835,309 | 7.6% |
| 4 | Evaluation and Management | $654,923 | 5.9% |
| 5 | Dental Services | $493,197 | 4.5% |
| 6 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $418,906 | 3.8% |
| 7 | Diagnostic Radiology Services | $14,205 | 0.1% |
| 8 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $9,455 | 0.1% |
| 9 | Procedures / Professional Services | $7,835 | 0.1% |
| 10 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $3,705 | <0.1% |
| 11 | Radiology Procedures | $2,071 | <0.1% |
| 12 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $1,075 | <0.1% |
| 13 | Surgery | $2 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $172,889 | 112 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $76,831 | 66 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $70,730 | 126 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $46,126 | 95 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $44,757 | 129 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $43,243 | 93 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $22,905 | 37 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $12,553 | 60 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $2,720 | 6 |
| D0350 | Oral/facial photo images | $425 | 21 |
| D0601 | Caries risk assess low risk | $12 | 3 |
| D0603 | Caries risk assess high risk | $0 | 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.
