1505-11431

Maine: Support to the Lunder-Dineen Health Education Alliance of Maine, a program of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), to develop a replicable educational model to advance oral health care for older adults that is effective, simple, survives staff turnover, and has broad-reaching policy and financial implications. This educational model will be initially piloted at six Maine Veterans� Homes sites that provide geographic diversity, a common commitment to improving patient access to effective oral health care, and to address the health education needs of their interprofessional staff. The long-term goal of this project is to create an educational model that can be widely used across settings and the continuum of care. Over a period of 12 months, Lunder-Dineen will focus on achieving key foundational objectives related to program development, network development, dissemination, data collection, and evaluation. Specific systems outcomes to be addressed are the integration of oral health into all aspects of health care and improvement of consumer-focused care delivery. $100,970 will support curriculum development, education dissemination, and pilot advisory team meetings. The proposed project aligns with the Oral Health 2020 Goal of mandatory inclusion of an adult dental benefit in publicly funded health insurance, and the target that by 2020, Medicare includes a comprehensive dental benefit.