GRANT00036

Support to the North Carolina Foundation for Advanced Health Programs to develop a formal infrastructure and create a unified strategy in which to have collective impact to affect oral health policy, programs, and financing priorities. New stakeholder groups, primarily consisting of community-based organizations, will be included in the new collaborative. Through this collation-building and planning process, consensus around implementation of additional aspects or programs to enhance cooperation between primary care and oral health will be developed. The Collaborative will address the following U.S. National Oral Health Alliance priority areas: Medical/Dental Colaobration-1.) Create an initiative to incorporate oral health into medical home transformation efforts including technical assistance to individual health centers and policy activation regarding Medicaid payment reform; 2.) Develop a plan for cross-pollination of medical and dental patient populations. Review opportunities for bi-directional referrals, outreach and follow-up; 3.) Support integration/interface of health center electronic dental and medical records systems to support fully coordinated care; 4.) Support emergency room personnel in finding strategic solutions for patients presenting with oral pain as the chief complaint; Oral Health Literacy—Underserved and vulnerable families have multiple contacts with many different types of service professionals who provide oral health information. The Collaborative will address strategies to create culturally sensitive, accurate and consistent oral health messages in all aspects of families’ formal and informal social networks in ways that match their literacy skills/styles.