RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Oral Health Screening by MassHealth Accountable Care Organizations: An opportunity for equity-focused interventions
JF American Dental Hygienists' Association
JO J Dent Hyg
FD American Dental Hygienists Association
SP 25
OP 30
VO 98
IS 3
A1 Ahern, John
A1 Sullivan, Laura
A1 Tam, Caleb
A1 Bench, Kara Keating
A1 Cook, Benjamin Le
YR 2024
UL http://jdh.adha.org/content/98/3/25.abstract
AB Establishing reliable access to dental services for publicly insured patients is an important part of achieving equitable oral health care. In 2023, an oral health screening requirement was added to the MassHealth Accountable Care Organization contract, which has the capacity to affect over 1.3 million members enrolled in MassHealth Accountable Care Organizations throughout the state. The goal of the oral health screening requirement is to identify MassHealth-insured patients who do not have reliable access to dental services and to provide them with resources to establish a dental home with a MassHealth-participating dentist. Primary care providers were surveyed, and results indicate a need for a care coordination mechanism to assist MassHealth-insured patients with establishing a dental home, in addition to an option to request telehealth-enabled and/or urgent dental appointments. This report describes the oral health screening program at one MassHealth Accountable Care Organization and presents some of the data collected during the first year of its implementation, in addition to discussing how this data is being used to guide equity-focused interventions with the potential for policy implications.