1611-12602

Grantee Address

Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved
KS
United States

Continued support to the National Oral Health Innovation and Integration Network (NOHIIN), whose mission is to unify and empower a network of Primary Care Associations (PCAs) and safety net providers to be champions of oral health as a part of overall health. NOHIIN evolved as a vehicle to scale and continue the success of the Strengthening the Oral Health Safety Net (SOHSN) initiative, which yielded resources and information developed through innovative partnerships with the community health centers and PCAs. NOHIIN continues to spread a unified message— to PCAs, community health centers, policy makers, stakeholders and the community in general— about the importance of oral health to overall through within the safety net delivery system. The learning collaborative model implemented by NOHIIN will continue to support and resource the participating 38 PCAs, and will ultimately integrate all 50 states. NOHIIN enables PCAs to access relationships, resources and training tools needed to support their community health centers (CHCs) for the creation of an innovative, equitable safety net healthcare system where oral health is an integrated, critical component of person-centered, comprehensive healthcare. The ten Primary Care Associations that have three years of participation in the Strengthening the Oral Health Safety Net (SOHSN) initiative, thus far, will provide network leadership for NOHIIN going into 2017. This core group of PCAs includes the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, Bi-State Primary Care Association, Georgia Association for Primary Health Care, Illinois Primary Health Care Association, Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, Michigan Primary Care Association, Mississippi Primary Health Care Association, Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, Oregon Primary Care Association, Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers, California Primary Care Association, Alaska Primary Care Association, Iowa Primary Care Association, and Tennessee Primary Care Association. During 2015 NOHIIN recruited 13 PCAs who were completely new to the network, and in 2016 NOHIIN recruited an additional seven new PCAs members. As a result of its recruitment efforts NOHIIN was able to conduct the majority of its work in 2016 in 38 states and the District of Columbia (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin). Now in its third year, NOHIIN continues to move along the network development spectrum. Starting in 2015 relationship building and connectivity was the central focus of network building efforts. This past year resulted in deepening those connections, building alignment on a shared agenda, and reaching consensus on implementation strategies. Achieving peer-to-peer buy-in where PCAs from 38 states valued the possibility of a national movement to weave an equitable, integrated safety net system that lifts up oral health was no small outcome. In 2017 NOHIIN PCAs will move towards collective action, and several project goals have been put in place as outlined in the proposal workplan. NOHIIN’s long-term efforts will transform the safety-net healthcare system to ensure equitable access and outcomes for improved patient-centered care, and where PCAs and CHCs have access to the tools and resources needed to elevate oral health. An opportunity in 2017 includes the new resource and design of technical assistance programs for PCAs and their CHCs members through the Oral Health Integration Implementation Guide. This contributes to the goal of integrating oral health into patient centered healthcare, and supports the target of having oral health integrated into at least 50% of emerging person-centered care models. As a national network of PCAs, NOHIIN will make marked steps in 2017 towards the ultimate goals of: • Empowering PCA members to become champions of oral health as a part of overall health within the community health center setting, thereby weaving an equitable safety net healthcare system where oral health is an integrated, critical component of person-centered, comprehensive healthcare. • Developing leadership within the state PCAs through this network, to improve the PCAs’ ability/capacity to advocate for safety net oral health needs among policy makers at the state and national levels. • Improving the PCA’s ability to support their CHCs in creating integrated models for person-centered care, as well as encouraging interprofessional collaboration between primary care and oral health providers. • Integration and spread of the redesigned Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Implementation Guide (a project of the DentaQuest Foundation and Quallis Health) that elevates the delivery of preventive oral health care as a component of routine medical care and enhances partnerships between primary care and dentistry.
Grant Amount
$75000.00