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