Safety Net Solutions Launches Webinar Series
March 2, 2010
On Friday, February 26, 2010, Safety Net Solutions launched a webinar series that provides ongoing learning opportunities for staff and leadership at safety net oral health programs across the country. These free webinars will focus on aspects of dentistry that are relevant to today’s safety net oral health leaders, including quality improvement, financial sustainability, operations and practice management.
The first webinar in the series focused on leadership and the development of characteristics that make effective change agents in a safety net dental program. To view an archived version of the webinar on Leadership, click here.
Dr. Mark Doherty, Director of Safety Net Solutions, stressed the importance of offering online learning opportunities to safety net providers. “Safety net dental providers and staff have extremely busy and hectic schedules, and it is often difficult for them to get away from the office for an entire day to attend a presentation or course,” he said. “However, these sessions are vitally important to provider and staff growth and their ability to communicate more effectively with peers. By making these sessions available through the internet, we are enabling them to expand their understanding of the safety net oral health world and implement positive changes into their own oral health programs.”
The Safety Net Solutions webinar series is part of a larger effort to make connections to the safety net oral health community utilizing technology. Additional information regarding Safety Net Solutions efforts in creating a Safety Net Online Learning Center will be made available this spring.
For a list of archived webinars and upcoming webinars, click here.
DentaQuest Institute and BCBSNC Foundation Collaborate to Increase Access to Dental Care in North Carolina
December 11, 2009
In tough economic times, safety net health providers experience dramatic growth in the number of individuals and families seeking services, including dental care. The DentaQuest Institute’s Safety Net Solutions (SNS) program has been successful in helping health centers prepare for and manage the demand for their services so they are better able to help more people in need of care. A recent grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation is bringing the SNS program into 10 North Carolina communities.
National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) Partners with SNS on Technical Assistance and Professional Certification Programs
October 20, 2009
The National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA), the nationwide organization of over 1,000 Health Center dental providers and supporters, has entered into a collaborative relationship with the DentaQuest Institute’s Safety Net Solutions (SNS) program to assist Health Center oral health programs in improving their efficiency, effectiveness and financial sustainability while delivering high quality care. Safety Net Solutions will become a technical assistance partner for Health Center oral health programs throughout the United States. In addition, NNOHA and Safety Net Solutions will jointly prepare career development and training programs for dental directors of safety net health centers and safety net technical consultants.
New Safety Net Solutions White Papers
October 19, 2009
Catalyst Institute is renamed DentaQuest Institute
April 1, 2009
As of April 1, 2009, the Catalyst Institute is renamed the DentaQuest Institute. This name links the Institute with the DentaQuest national oral health enterprise whose collective mission is to improve oral health. We do this is in a number of ways: through administration of quality dental benefit programs (DentaQuest), philanthropy (DentaQuest Foundation) that emphasizes prevention and supports public awareness for optimal oral health, and our evidence-based research that has the potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of care delivery systems. Together, we are dedicated to better oral health for all
Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness
January 9, 2009
Growing the Safety Net Solutions Advisory Team
Current demand for Safety Net Solutions involvement proves that individualized systems change works. With the rapid growth in requests for Safety Net Solutions technical assistance services from clinics as well as public and private funders from all parts of the United States, Safety Net Solutions starts 2009 with a focused expansion of its expert advisory team.
"The potential impact that the national expansion of this program can have on the preservation, growth and viability of our nation's safety net dental practices is tremendous," said Dr. Doherty. "By increasing the number of professionals that are contributing and potentially using the Safety Net Solutions technical assistance model, and by increasing the geographic scope of our work, Safety Net Solutions will have the ability to contribute to improvements in the delivery of oral health care on a national level."
On January 9 and 10, 2009, Safety Net Solutions convened a panel of leaders in community health dentistry from across the U.S. at the DentaQuest Institute offices in Westborough, Massachusetts. Dr. Mark Doherty, Director of the Safety Net Solutions Program, led a detailed review of the Safety Net Solutions model for practice management and technical assistance. Repeatedly, leadership, staffing and institutional memory were highlighted as critical.
Attending the session were:
- Jay Anderson, Chief Dental Officer, HRSA
- Janet Bozzone, DMD, Dental Director, Open Door Family Medical Centers (Ossing, NY)
- Alexandra Chan, DDS, Dental Director, Hill Health Center (New Haven, CT)
- Steve Geiermann, DDS, ADA Senior Manager, Access, Community Oral Health Infrastructure and Capacity (Chicago, IL)
- Lawrence Hill, DDS, MPH, Cincinnati Department of Health, and President, American Association of Community Dental Programs (Cincinnati, OH)
- Skip Homicz, DDS, president-elect of the NH Dental Society (New Castle, NH)
- Marty Lieberman, DDS, Neighborcare Health (Seattle, WA)
- Elias Koutros, DDS, Spartan Dental (Cranston, RI)
- Barbara Kubilus, Chief Special Programs Officer, Borinquen Health Center (Miami, FL)
- John McFarland, DDS, President, National Network for Oral Health Access, Dental Director, Salud Family Health Center (Fort Lupton, CO)
- James Patsis, DDS, MBA (York, PA)
- Kathy Phipps, DrPH, RDH, Consultant (Morro Bay, CA)
- Dale Reumping, DDS, MSD (Spokane, WA)
- David Rosenstein, DMD, MPH, Professor Emeritus, Oregon Health and Science University (Portland, OR)
- John Rosetti, Chief Dental Officer, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, former Chief Dental Officer, Health Resources and Services Administration (Columbia, MD)
- Frank Schiano, DMD, Dental Director, Whittier Street Health Center (Roxbury, MA)
- Michelle Sohiel, DMD, Dental Director, Borinquen Health Center (Miami, FL)
- Jim Sutherland, DMD, HRSA Regional Dental Consultant (Denver, CO)
Joining the review was SNS' newest (fifth) staff member, Danielle Goldsmith.
DentaQuest Institute Partners with Florida Foundation to Expand Access to Oral Health Services
October, 2008
The DentaQuest Institute and Health Foundation of South Florida are partnering on a program designed to increase access to oral health services for underserved populations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. A grant was awarded to the DentaQuest Institute’s Safety Net Solutions™ program as part of Health Foundation’s commitment to allocate $7 million for a 5-year major oral health initiative.
DentaQuest Institute’s Safety Net Solutions Advises California HealthCare Foundation
August, 2008
Dr. Mark Doherty and Dori Bingham of the DentaQuest Institute's Safety Net Solutions Program recently partnered with Mary Kate Scott and the California HealthCare Foundation to produce a comprehensive report on best practices in community health dental programs entitled, "The Good Practice: Treating Underserved Dental Patients While Staying Afloat. To view this report, click here http://www.chcf.org/topics/medi-cal/index.cfm?itemID=133706
The goal of this oral health report, which was written after conducting in-depth interviews with oral health leaders throughout the nation, is to assist oral health professionals in determining how to better serve publicly insured and uninsured in California and nationwide. Low reimbursement rates for Medicaid dental services often become an obstacle to improving the oral health of low-income patients. Although the environment is challenging, some dental clinics have found methods to not only cope with Medicaid limitations, but even to increase their payment revenues and expand their capacity to treat low-income patients. These clinics have developed best practices that allow them to streamline operations and boost productivity.
"While the environments of care and reimbursement rates for safety net dental programs may vary from state to state, clinics across the country are facing many of the same obstacles when it comes to providing oral health to underserved populations," said Mark Doherty, Director of Safety Net Solutions and co-author of the California Health Care Foundation report. "This report provides a series of enhancements for safety net practices that will allow then to overcome many of these common obstacles, minimizing their negative impact on safety net dental practices."
This report, conceptualized and funded by the California Health Care Foundation as part of their work in oral health, outlines the necessary techniques and tools to help safety net dental practices become efficient and effective. These tools include: the fundamentals of creating a sound strategic plan: paying special attention to the reimbursement process and payer mix; achieving a smooth patient flow; designing an optimal staffing pattern; the importance of effective business systems; and implementing new technologies and clinical programs.
