Leadership and Legacy: Oral Health Milestones in Maternal and Child Health Promotion and Prevention OHRC
cover, Building Partnerships to Improve Children’s Access to Medicaid Oral Health Services

1998



  • Building Partnerships to Improve Children’s Access to Medicaid Oral Health Services (conference) held

Background

In response to the 1996 report by the Office of Inspector General, the Health Care Financing Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health convened a national conference to bring together national and state leaders in Medicaid, maternal and child health, dentistry, and public health to document barriers to and strategies for accessing oral health care. The conference was also designed to empower participants to develop and implement action plans in their states and organizations for increasing access to oral health care.

Impact

Conference participants identified key barriers to children’s access to Medicaid oral health services, strategies to address each barrier, and the partners necessary to implement these strategies. Barriers and strategies were organized around these themes:

  • Communication and understanding among major players
  • Financing and funding
  • Medicaid policies and administrative procedures
  • Supply and distribution of dental services providers
  • Valuing oral health
  • Best practices and guidelines

Source

Spisak S, Holt K, eds. 1999. Building Partnerships to Improve Children’s Access to Medicaid Oral Health Services: National Conference Proceedings. Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health.


Health Resources and Services Administration/Health Care Financing Administration Oral Health intra-agency agreement.
Patti Mitchell, Food and Nutrition Services, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program; Burton Edelstein, Health Resources and Services Administration; Donald Schneider, Health Care Financing Administration; and Betty DeBerry-Sumner, Health Resources and Services Administration.
  • Health Resources and Services Administration / Health Care Financing Administration Oral Health intra-agency agreement

Background

In response to the 1996 report, Children’s Dental Services Under Medicaid: Access and Utilization, by the Office of Inspector General, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Health Care Financing Administration launched an oral health initiative to address the oral health needs of children and adolescents enrolled in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The goals of the initiative were to maximize the federal government’s role in ensuring access to oral health care; to develop partnerships with other federal agencies, states, and the private sector; and to maximize prevention through the application of science to practice.

Impact

The initiative sought to eliminate disparities in access to oral health care and to advance the oral health of all Americans, particularly those most vulnerable to oral disease owing to age, income, racial factors, or special health care needs.

Source

Head Start Bureau. 2001. Head Start and Partners Forum on Oral Health. National Head Start Bulletin 71:1–43.

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