The transition to a new model of care is coming — and now, it’s coming fast.

Two decades in the making, we are now seeing the shift to value-based care (VBC) models accelerate, with CMS requiring health care providers to begin adopting systems that support value over volume, focus on health equity, and grow the patient populations covered under these models. Changes in regulations, reimbursement, and processes that affect health care providers (including dental providers) are coming into focus.

There’s obviously no one solution, no silver bullet, to creating an equitable oral health system. But for Madeline Steward, MPH, a program officer at the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), there’s one element that’s critical to the effort: trust.

An estimated 76.5 million Americans lack dental insurance coverage, according to CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a non-profit that advocates for accessible oral health care. 

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There’s an emerging body of evidence associating the use of comprehensive oral care with a reduction in nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP). And it’s a critically important body of evidence, as NVHAP occurs in about 1 out of every 100 hospitalized patients and is associated with longer hospital stays, hospital readmissions, and increased health care costs.

A collaboration among CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, American Dental Association Health Policy Institute, Center for Health Care Strategies Inc, and National Academy of State Health Policy has created a new tool to analyze the range and effectiveness of Medicaid adult dental benefits on a state-by-state basis. 

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The CareQuest Institute for Oral Health nonprofit recently launched an online tool giving insight into the extensiveness of adult Medicaid dental coverage in each state.

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It all began with an audacious aim and an audacious number.

“This project started from a bold idea that we could reach millions of Americans who may not have access to a dentist by enlisting the greater health care workforce as partners in oral health,” said Shenam Ticku, BDS, MPH, instructor in Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. “Our Champions can train their peers and create more advocates for oral health.”