The Texas MCH-IOHI Demonstration Project, Preventive Oral Health Care Integration in Texas Initiative (POHCIT), is a collaboration between the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Oral Health Improvement Program (OHIP), the University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Dentistry (UTHSASD), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC-EP), Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TAHC), and the Texas Oral Health Coalition (TxOHC). The purpose of POHCIT is to improve maternal and child oral health in underserved populations by integrating preventive oral health care (POHC) into primary care for pregnant women in sustainable and scalable ways that can be replicated throughout Texas. Focusing on underserved populations will reduce health disparities in Texas. The aim of POHCIT is to improve access to POHC by integrating it into primary care settings accessible to pregnant women at increased risk for poor oral health. Funding will support creation of a POHCIT Alliance of key stakeholders who will implement a two-tiered, state- and local-level approach to address three core functions: Policy and Practice; Outreach and Education; and Data, Analysis, and Evaluation. This results in seven projects overall – formation of the Alliance and addressing the three core functions at both the state and local levels. The goal of POHCIT is to improve access to POHC and reduce oral health disparities among MCH populations living in communities underserved by oral health care in four ways: • Enhance state-level policy and/or scopes of practice to increase access and use of integrated POHC (state core function 1). • Increase oral health awareness among health organizations selected for oral health literacy training and outreach (state core function 2). • Implement state-level oral health surveillance enhancements to improve trend analysis (state core function 3). • Implement an evidence-based model of care to integrate POHC and pr
imary care services, including primary care workflow modifications, provider training, and dental referral tracking (local core functions 1-3).