The Oral Health Workforce Research Center (OHWRC) has released its Compendium of Innovations in Oral Health Service Delivery, which summarizes best practices in improving access to care drawn from more than 40 of the OHWRC’s recent case studies.
Lack of access to oral health services is a public health problem that results in poor oral health for many high-need populations, the OHWRC says, prompting oral healthcare providers to use a variety of strategies to expand access to care in community-based settings, including federally qualified health centers, schools, and nursing homes.
According to the OHWRC, the programs outlined in the compendium were early adopters of oral health integration with primary care, teledentistry services, mobile and portable dentistry services, and the integration of primary care, oral health, and behavioral health services.
Brief summaries of each organization include infographics on available services and patient populations and describe the problem, solution, facilitators, barriers, and benefits that each organization experienced in its efforts to expand access to care for the underserved.
“This compendium is a great resource for both providers and policymakers,” said Jean Moore, DrPH, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany’s School of Public Health, which is where the OHWRC is located.
“It translates a great deal of valuable information about innovative oral health service delivery programs into infographics that are straightforward and easy to understand,” said Moore.
“By providing lessons learned, it can also assist organizations that are interested in developing similar programs to learn from the experiences of others that have successfully implemented these programs and expanded access to care for underserved populations,” Moore said.
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