Oral Health Resource Center Update: September 2024

By https://www.mchoralhealth.org/ on October 07, 2024

New from OHRC

The following news and resources are featured by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC).

Title V 5-Year Needs Assessment and State Action Plan Resources

The resources below were developed by OHRC and Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) in the Consortium for Oral Health. They may help oral health programs and community partners become involved in the Title V Maternal and Child Health Bureau Block Grant 5-year needs assessment process and ultimately the development of the state action plan.

  • Making a Pitch for Introducing Oral Health Issues to MCH Director or Title V Coordinator
  • Rationale for Including Oral Health in the Title V 5-Year Needs Assessment
  • Including Oral Health in the Title V Maternal and Child Health 5-Year Needs Assessment and State Action Plan

All 59 states and jurisdictions receive Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant funds to ensure that preventive and primary care services for pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs, have access to preventive and primary health care. The Title V legislation directs each state and jurisdiction to conduct a comprehensive, statewide MCH needs assessment every 5 years to identify the need for preventive and primary health care. The next 5-year needs assessment must be completed by July 15, 2025. Information from the needs assessment is used to develop a state action plan.

For more information and resources related to the 5-year needs assessment and the national performance measure for oral health, see the Title V Oral Health webpage.

Title V 5-year needs assessment resources

State-Level Learning Collaborative Opportunity

The Consortium for Oral Health, funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, has issued a call for applications to select five state oral health programs to participate in a 16-month learning collaborative from January 2025 through April 2026.

 

Learning collaborative opportunity

 

Celebrating Personnel Updates


OHRC is pleased to announce staffing updates!

Katy Battani now serves as OHRC’s deputy director. Katy is primarily responsible for overseeing the Consortium for Oral Health’s learning collaboratives (LCs) and assisting OHRC’s director, Katrina Holt, in strategic planning, evaluation, and reporting. Katy is also a regional dental hygienist liaison coordinator for the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety (NCHBHS); a Head Start project in which OHRC is the lead for oral health activities. Thank you for your leadership, Katy!
 
Beth Lowe, OHRC health education specialist, is retiring from Georgetown University after 17 years of valuable service. Beth has contributed her expertise as a dental hygienist, writer, speaker, and trainer, especially to NCHBHS oral health activities during the past 14 years. She has also been instrumental in writing OHRC’s resources focusing on dental sealants, including updating the Seal America: The Prevention Invention manual and training and many others. She is known and loved by many colleagues and we will miss her contributions. Best wishes to Beth on her upcoming adventures!

Consultants
OHRC has collaborative relationships with the following organizations through consultant contracts for LC project management, coaching, and facilitation. We appreciate the effort and expertise that these talented individuals share with us!
 
FrameShift Group
Peggy Stemmler, director, and Rebecca Nevedale, manager, health systems strategy, assist with the Maternal and Child Health—Improving Oral Health Integration LC.
 
National Network for Oral Health Access
Candace Owen, senior director for education and strategic partnerships, assists with the Building State Capacity for Integration LC.
 
Virginia Health Catalyst
Ericca Facetti, vice president of clinical and community care, serves as a project manager for the Building State Capacity for Integration LC.

 

Spotlighted Resources

Resource Spotlight

2024 Connecticut Medical/Dental Integration Report

Produced by the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership, this report provides information about why medical-dental integration (MDI), a model of care that emphasizes the connection between oral health and systemic health, is important. Topics include MDI efforts in Connecticut, emerging MDI-related trends outside Connecticut, barriers to MDI, and policy and program recommendations. Each month, find new spotlighted resources from our digital library on our website. 

Getting to Know Me: Information for Your Child's Dental Office

This form is designed for parents to share information about their child with dental office staff to help them meet the child's needs. 

 

It includes questions about what makes a child smile or feel good, what may motivate the child to behave, and what to do when the child becomes shy, scared, or unsure during their dental visit. The form is available in English and Spanish.

Getting to Know Me

In the News

CDC Funds Awarded to Fifteen States, ASTDD and ADS

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that new funding was awarded to state recipients and national partner organizations to help improve oral health in their communities. Fifteen state recipients will use the 3-year cooperative agreement to increase access to evidence-based preventive dental services, provide technical assistance for community water fluoridation activities, improve oral health and chronic disease surveillance, and increase awareness of infection prevention and control guidelines. Two national partner organizations, ASTDD and the Association for Dental Safety (ADS), will support the efforts of state recipients to increase access to oral health services and reduce cavities.
 

Guidance Released for Strengthening EPSDT Within Medicaid and CHIP

The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services released important guidance regarding the coverage requirements for eligible children and youth who are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The guidance, Best Practices for Adhering to Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) Requirements. This guidance is designed to help states strengthen their implementation of EPSDT requirements to improve health outcomes. It addresses three broad topics: promoting EPSDT awareness and accessibility, expanding and using the child-focused workforce, and improving care for EPSDT-eligible children with specialized needs.

Partners are encouraged to work closely with state Medicaid agencies to help strengthen access to care for children and youth enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. Medicaid and CHIP together provide health coverage for nearly half of all children and youth in the United States, including those with special health care needs.

Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact Activated

The Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact, an interstate occupational licensure compact, has reached activation status, anticipating that dentists and dental hygienists in Maine, Washington, Iowa, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Kansas will have license reciprocity and portability in the next 18-24 months. The Council of State Governments has partnered with the Department of Defense, the American Dental Association, and the American Dental Hygienists’ Association to support the mobility of licensed dentists and dental hygienists through the development of this interstate compact. The compact focuses on creating reciprocity among participant states and reducing the barriers to license portability and was activated with the enactment of the seventh state.
 

National Water Fluoridation Statistics Released

Biennially, CDC summarizes water fluoridation reporting system data into national water fluoridation statistics. CDC has released these national water fluoridation statistics for 2022. The statistics give an overview of how many people in the United States are served by community water systems, and of those, how many have access to fluoridated water.
 

Request for Applications from School Districts for Improving Oral Health

The American Academy of Pediatrics, with support from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, is implementing a new cohort of the Training, Education, Assistance, Mentorship, and Support (TEAMS) Program to virtually convene and provide training and technical assistance to up to 10 school district teams interested in improving oral health in schools. Participating school districts will be required to identify and recruit 4-5 member teams, attend virtual sessions, and help lead the work taking place through the project. Applications are due by Friday, October 4, and selected teams will be notified by Friday, October 18. Questions may be submitted by email.

 

Oral health learning cafe

Oral Health Learning Café

OHRC's Oral Health Learning Café is an informal, supportive space for professionals to engage with others about integrating oral health and primary care. From September 2024 through January 2025, representatives from each of the five programs included in the report, Integrating Oral Health Care into Primary Care: Five Successful, Long-Standing, Statewide Programs Providing Care for the Maternal and Child Health Population, will join the Learning Café webinars to present and engage in discussion. In September, Emily Horney, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Oral Health Section presented on Into the Mouths of Babes: Primary Care Fluoride Varnish Program. Visit our website to register for future programs. You can also subscribe to the discussion list to receive announcements about upcoming webinars and the monthly Integration Alert.