Grants to States to Support Oral Health Workforce Activities - The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) will use a dental-medical integration approach, developing and implementing four innovative programs to address dental workforce and oral health needs of dental health professional shortage areas in Iowa. These include: 1) Strengthening Oral Health Competency Project - Using education and hands-on training to increase oral health knowledge and competency of direct care workforce in long-term care facilities; 2) Teledentistry Access Project - Using teledentistry to link long-term care facilities and early childhood programs with public health dental hygienists to quickly identify, triage and address acute dental concerns; 3) Veteran Oral Health Navigation Project- Using public health dental hygienists within veteran service organizations to assist veterans in understanding and accessing oral health services and benefits; and 4) Closing the Divide Continuation Project - Using virtual learning to increase awareness of gaps between dental and medical systems to address access to dental services for underserved Iowans. Iowa’s innovative projects will educate and build awareness about how medical and dental systems are related and can be better integrated, demonstrate ways to use public health dental hygienists to connect the systems, and initiate plans for program development based on successful system integration outcomes. The strategies will prevent/reduce dental disease and increase access to dental care, lower health care costs, and create interprofessional teams focused on total health. Objective 1-1: By August 2031, plan and implement the Strengthening Oral Health Competency Project in 12 LTC settings (including assisted living, memory care, skilled and acute medical care, and full continuum facilities and home-based services) to?identify?and manage common oral health issues. Objective 1-2: By August 2031, implement the Teledentistry Access Project workflows into 12 LTC facilities (including assisted living, memory care, skilled and acute medical?care, and?full continuum facilities and home-based services) and within 35 early childhood programs to?quickly?identify?and triage dental conditions. Objective 1-3: By August 2031, implement the Veteran Oral Health Navigation Project in 10?veteran?service?organizations to help Iowa veterans understand and use their dental benefits?to?receive?timely?and?appropriate dental?care. Objective 1-4: By August 2031, plan and deliver the Closing the Divide Continuation Project, a four-session virtual learning collaborative for medical (physician, physician assistant, nurse, nurse practitioner) and dental (dentist, dental hygienist, dental assistant) providers. The project will bridge medical-dental system gaps to improve access to care for Iowans. Innovative changes include reversing the traditional continuing education model by beginning with partnership development among providers to co-design learning?objectives?and deliver multi-viewpoint presentations, to enhance the successful 2022-2026 series. Objective 2-1: By August 2031, evaluate the Strengthening Oral Health Competency Project, Teledentistry Access Project Veteran Oral Health Navigation Project, and Closing the Divide Project to?determine?impact, sustainability, and project replication across Iowa and to inform policymakers.? Objective 3-1: By August 2031, determine?sustainability needs and approaches for Strengthening Oral Health Competency Project, Teledentistry?Access Project, Veteran Oral Health Navigation Project,?and?Closing the Divide Continuation Project?using the evaluation plan and project results.
