Brighton Medicaid providers billed $917,547 for Dental Services in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. The amount represents a 37.5% jump compared to 2023, when $667,493 was claimed for the same services.
Medicaid, a state-administered program receiving funding from both state and federal governments, offers public health insurance to low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. This coverage makes Medicaid a significant component of the U.S. health care system. Additional background is available from the Commonwealth Fund.
Because taxpayer money supports Medicaid, fluctuations in local billings reflect how public health care spending is distributed within individual communities.
The “Dental Services” grouping includes Medicaid-billed care organized by type, based on standardized HCPCS and CPT billing codes. This analysis assigned each billing code to a single service category using consistent numeric prefixes and code ranges, enabling related services to be evaluated together while avoiding duplication and preserving accurate ranking over time.
While Medicaid spending increased in several categories, Dental Services placed fifth in Brighton for total Medicaid payments in 2024.
Statewide in Colorado, Dental Services ranked seventh for total Medicaid payments in 2024.
During the five years ending in 2024, Brighton’s Medicaid payments under Dental Services rose by $178,369, a 16.3% increase. Accelerated spending occurred in specific periods, with notable increases during 2021 and 2022 on a year-over-year basis.
Within the city, Medicaid spending for Dental Services was spread across Brighton but largely centered in a small number of ZIP codes. For 2024, ZIP code 80601 alone represented $917,547 in Medicaid payments under Dental Services, meaning this ZIP accounted for 100% of those payments in Brighton that year.
Medicaid payments within Dental Services in Brighton were also focused on a relatively few billing codes.
By comparison, Brighton’s Medicaid payments for Dental Services increased 37.5% between 2024 and 2023, whereas payments for all claim categories in Brighton grew by 28% during the same span.
Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows that in fiscal 2023, combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion, making up roughly 18% of all national health expenditures, a substantial rise from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019 before the pandemic.
This marks an approximate 40% increase over several years, primarily fueled by expanded Medicaid enrollment and higher service utilization during and after the COVID-19 period.
In recent years, federal budget measures under the Trump administration featured major proposals to decrease federal Medicaid support and reshape the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is expected to cut federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, while instituting new work requirements and greater cost-sharing that could reduce benefits and funding for some beneficiaries. Such changes are anticipated to push more of the financial responsibility onto states and cap federal Medicaid budget growth, while the program continues to cover tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,095,915 | -26.6% |
| 2021 | $1,490,676 | 36% |
| 2022 | $1,367,790 | -8.2% |
| 2023 | $667,493 | -51.2% |
| 2024 | $917,547 | 37.5% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $4,992,728 | 40.1% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $2,359,213 | 18.9% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $2,056,427 | 16.5% |
| 4 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $1,096,736 | 8.8% |
| 5 | Dental Services | $917,547 | 7.4% |
| 6 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $495,720 | 4% |
| 7 | Radiology Procedures | $158,696 | 1.3% |
| 8 | Vision Services | $149,695 | 1.2% |
| 9 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $138,231 | 1.1% |
| 10 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $50,155 | 0.4% |
| 11 | Surgery | $27,020 | 0.2% |
| 12 | Procedures / Professional Services | $7,646 | 0.1% |
| 13 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $7,061 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Anesthesia | $1,861 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Temporary Codes | $1,491 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $1,114 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0999 | Unspecified diagnostic proce | $295,260 | 12 |
| D0120 | Periodic oral evaluation | $100,918 | 84 |
| D0350 | Oral/facial photo images | $83,886 | 30 |
| D0150 | Comprehensve oral evaluation | $79,359 | 67 |
| D0330 | Panoramic image | $57,991 | 38 |
| D0274 | Bitewings four images | $40,661 | 48 |
| D0140 | Limit oral eval problm focus | $36,062 | 30 |
| D0272 | Dental bitewings two images | $34,218 | 25 |
| D0220 | Intraoral periapical first | $31,260 | 88 |
| D0340 | 2d cephalometric image | $30,537 | 12 |
| D0210 | Intraor comprehensive series | $22,693 | 18 |
| D0470 | Diagnostic casts | $22,640 | 12 |
| D0160 | Extensv oral eval prob focus | $21,676 | 12 |
| D0230 | Intraoral periapical ea add | $19,338 | 57 |
| D0460 | Pulp vitality test | $17,538 | 11 |
| D0145 | Oral evaluation, pt < 3yrs | $13,593 | 13 |
| D0240 | Intraoral occlusal film | $9,908 | 9 |
| D0190 | Screening of a patient | $0 | 2 |
Note: HCPCS codes are included to help illustrate the grouped category. Rankings and category totals are based on these standardized service clusters, not the individual 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.
