Ryan White Title III HIV Capacity Development and Planning Grants - EHS, Inc. (dba Evergreen Health) respectfully requests funding to expand and enhance services available to people living with HIV (PLWH) through the agency’s onsite dental practice, which was originally established, in part, with Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part C Capacity Development Program support. The purpose of this program is to strengthen Evergreen’s organizational capacity to respond to the changing needs of and increase access to high-quality oral health care services for low-income and underserved people with HIV living in the Buffalo (NY) Service Area (SA). Specifically, Evergreen proposes the acquisition and integration of CAD/CAM (computer assisted design and computer assisted manufacturing) equipment and software to address the increasing need for dental restoration services, in a significantly more efficient and high-quality manner. Integration of this equipment will shift the entirety of the procedure chairside, reduce the number of visits required, ensure completion of needed procedures, and facilitate full reimbursement for services rendered from third party payors. Evergreen is the provider of choice for most of the early intervention, treatment, and support services accessed by PLWH in the designated area, which is inclusive of eight counties that comprise the “Buffalo” RWSA or WNY. The agency is a trusted, innovative, and resilient provider that has developed its unique model of care to specialize in the provision of a comprehensive continuum designed to reach the community’s most underserved populations. Aligned with overall operational modalities, the award of this infrastructure funding for CAD/CAM technology within the onsite dental practice will, significantly enhance the efficiency of dental restoration fabrications and related services by streamlining the process, reduce the need for multiple appointments allowing for increased service provision, and improve accuracy and fit, leading to a faster, more comfortable experience with better long-term patient outcomes – the overarching goal of all investments. The technology requested in this proposal will advance critical services that would enable onsite production of restorative products, effectively moving to a chairside model. This streamlines the process, reduces the need for multiple appointments, improves accuracy and reduces human error minimizing the need for adjustments or refabrication, and, beyond the initial investment, offers a cost-effective, sustainable, versatile tool that will maximize positive impact for PLWH and facilitate practice capacity to serve more patients leading to sustainability of integration.
