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Advancing Equity Through Oral Health Fund
We are driving oral health transformation through grantmaking and advocacy that support efforts to dismantle unjust structures and systems that drive disparities across oral health.
Learn more about the two-phase application process.
Advancing Equity Through Oral Health Fund
Advancement of Federal and State Oral Health Policy that Expands or Protects Access to Dental Coverage and Oral Health Care
According to a landmark 2011 Institute of Medicine report, having dental coverage is strongly tied to access to and utilization of oral health care. To this end, promoting the adoption and implementation of extensive dental benefits in publicly funded programs is a critical piece of our philanthropic strategy.
Dental coverage is inconsistent and, at times, insufficient to support this country's vast oral health needs. Lack of dental coverage is a barrier to access to dental care and disproportionately impacts historically marginalized and underserved populations.
CareQuest Institute’s grantmaking supports organizations and activities that advance oral health policy, expanding coverage, aligning payments with health outcomes, and shaping policies and practices based on the lived experiences of community partners and trusted representatives.
Through this funding priority, we invite organizations to explore opportunities that:
• Advance federal health and oral health policy, including, but not limited to, adding a comprehensive dental benefit in Medicare.
• Expand or maintain access to dental benefits in state Medicaid programs.
• Meaningfully engage community-driven partners to inform and shape policies that impact their lives.
Engagement of Community Voices, Specifically Underserved Populations
Poor oral health can lead to a higher risk of chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, and behavior depression, leading to poor health outcomes and higher health care costs. Historically marginalized populations, including but not limited to black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) populations, those living in rural communities, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities are impacted disproportionately by the lack of access to oral health care and community support. These same voices are often left out of discourse and decision-making regarding their local community’s health and health care needs. However, powerful and positive disruption can and does occur when the voices of historically marginalized communities exist in spaces where decisions are made.
At CareQuest Institute, we believe the inclusion of community voice in driving policy and systems change is a critical to attaining true oral health equity.
Through this funding priority, we invite organizations to explore opportunities that:
• Meaningfully engage members from the communities they serve to inform and shape solutions that impact the community members’ lives.
• Use a health and racial equity lens when developing solutions to the inequities in the oral health system.
• Utilize community organizing or mobilization to drive systems change.
Expand Access to Safe, Timely, and Effective Person-Centered Care (Including Medical-Dental Integration and Minimally Invasive Care) and Health Care Workforce Solutions
CareQuest Institute has a long and deep commitment to supporting the broad integration of oral health into primary care. We believe healthy people and healthy communities are interconnected, oral diseases are systemic, and transforming health care is necessary for quality of life.
Our hope is that testing and refinement of clinically appropriate care delivery models that incorporate the concepts of evidence-based care, clinical expertise, patient-centeredness, value-based, and equity-focused, will advance innovation in oral health care. CareQuest Institute is particularly interested in opportunities to work within areas that have historically had less structural support, knowledge, and willpower to advance new models of care and build oral health infrastructure that is conducive for health transformation.
Through this funding priority, we invite organizations to explore opportunities that:
• Test or refine person-centered care models (including medical-dental integration and minimally invasive care) and health care workforce solutions to advance innovation in oral health care.
• Use a health and racial equity lens when developing solutions to the inequities in the oral health system.
• Meaningfully engage community-driven partners to inform and shape oral health care solutions that impact their lives.
Data and Insights to Advance Oral Health Systems Change
Research is critical to generating a compelling data case, whether through quantitative evidence or qualitative stories of impact, to create systems change. Through its research-focused grantmaking, CareQuest Institute aims to collaborate with organizations to tell data-informed stories that reveal timely insights and inspire change in oral health.
Through this funding priority, we invite organizations utilizing community-based, participatory research to:
• Explore factors that influence oral health equity for historically underserved and vulnerable populations.
• Conduct population oral health research.
• Demonstrate the efficacy of the integration of oral health into overall health.
• Transform patient care to better classify and predict oral health outcomes and evaluate alternative care approaches (e.g., teledentistry or minimally invasive care) to improve patient access.
• Assess and highlight the impact of oral health interventions on the total cost of care.
• Evaluate value-based care approaches.
• Promote public policies that increase access to and affordability of care for vulnerable populations, especially through safety-net clinics.
Looking to apply for a CareQuest Institute grant?
Learn more about the two-phase grant application process and explore current and past grants.