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For additional context, the Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health (CIPCOH) serves as a national resource for systems-level research on oral health integration into primary care with special emphasis on training enhancements that will train primary care providers to delivery care that promotes oral health, addresses oral health disparities and meets the unique needs of all communities. Over the past 5 years, CIPCOH has been evaluating the integration of oral health within primary care across a broad range of specialty areas.

Previous funding from the CareQuest Institute has been entirely for the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. CIPCOH would be considered a new partner.

The proposal is to support the 100 Million Mouths Campaign, which is focused on creating primary care champions to advance oral health equity through building integrated approaches to provider education. This proposal looks to have an impact on the supply of oral health education for aspiring providers, noting that more than half of schools/programs across multiple disciplines teach only 1-3 hours of oral health content. The proposal also shares one of the main predictors of oral health inclusion into primary care training programs is the presence of an oral health champion, which also correlated with significantly more hours of oral health teaching and a program having a relationship with a dental school.   

Building off the pilot that launched earlier in 2021, Harvard will recruit 8 state-based champions, will implement an evolved training curriculum, and provide ongoing technical support to champions throughout their work. Champions will implement a process to assess the oral health curricula in their state, identify opportunities for integrating or expanding oral health education components within primary care education curricula, and engage in strategies to advance and institutionalize changes to the education systems.

Harvard and CIPCOH will recruit champions that represent and serve the communities that face the greatest barriers to oral health. As a part of the training program, they will be implementing new components focused on health and racial equity. Additionally, they will require champions to recruit and retain a patient representative that will serve as a partner in the project, offering their perspective on opportunities for building new educational models.

The project will also be supported by an Advisory Board, on which they will partner with national consumer-based organizations such as Families USA and Community Catalyst, to recruit and retain a consumer advisor perspective.

The budget for this proposal totals $198,565, however, it contains indirect expense rates that exceeded our parameters. The recommended amount, which meets our parameters, is $189,122. Of this amount, about $75k goes to staff and contractors. There’s an additional $38k for stipends for the champions and $10k for the Advisory Board.

The total budget for Harvard School of Dental Medicine is $47,851,649 and therefore this grant represents less than 1% of their total budget.