G-2001-16089

This investment supports the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers (AACHC) in building a framework whereby states can measure oral health quality and integration at the state level in order to demonstrate the value of oral health in reducing health care costs and improving outcomes. AACHC has been a long-term partner of DentaQuest through the Strengthening the Oral Health Safety Net initiative and the National Oral Health Innovation and Integration Network and is participating in a newly funded HRSA National Oral Health Integration grant in collaboration with the Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho PCAs to improve access to and delivery of comprehensive, quality oral health care for children. AACHC identified barriers to deeper oral health integration such as an emergency only dental benefit, along with a $1k cap on that same coverage. AACHC also identified gaps in comprehensive data that demonstrate the value of oral health and the degree to which integration exists in the state. With this project they will partner with the state’s HCCN to lead a state level analysis of integration measurement capacity as well as deeper case study into one community health center. The outcomes will be a developed framework that examines the capacity to report, capture, and use data such as the percentage of medical patients who are also dental patients and comparative A1C scores among medical patients who also receive oral health. $95,000 supports staff time and travel to fulfill deliverables, as well stipends for partner CHCs to contribute their time.