Rhode Island Dental Case Management            Learning Collaborative 

Call for RI Dental Practice Team Applications

The RI Case Management Learning Collaborative seeks applicant dental teams to join a 2 year initiative aimed at increasing access to dental care for Medicaid enrolled adults. Apply now and learn innovative office protocols & patient management strategies that will improve your office bottom line.

Increasing Access to Rhode Island (RI) Medicaid Adult Dental Services through Case Management is a workforce development project designed to incorporate the infrastructure and concepts of a learning collaborative (study group) into achieving an increase in access to oral health care services for vulnerable adults enrolled in the Rhode Island Medicaid program. The project was established in 2015 between the RI Department of Health and the Medicaid-CHIP State Dental Association whereby the Medicaid-CHIP State Dental Association is taking the lead in developing and implementing a Medicaid Adult Dental Services Learning Collaborative for ten RI dental offices. 

The goals of the multi-year collaborative are to:

1) increase the number of dental providers accepting Medicaid enrolled adults in RI; and

2) increase access to dental care services for low-income adults eligible for Medicaid in RI.

Primary funding support for this project is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Dental Workforce Enhancement Grant HRSA 15-052. The Rhode Island Department of Health’s (HEALTH) Oral Health Program is the grantee and the Medicaid CHIP State Dental Association serves as a contractor leading the project and providing the venue for education, training and technical assistance (TA).  

The RI Department of Heath and MSDA are collaborating with the RI Dental Association and the RI Medicaid Agency to implement the initiative. 

Background

Although Medicaid-covered adults in Rhode Island have access to comprehensive dental benefits, a 2014 report to the RI General Assembly revealed that only 37% of all enrolled adults actually received any dental service.  The reasons for this finding are complex; however, low dental provider participation in the adult Medicaid program continues to be a significant contributing factor.  In an effort to increase the number of dental providers accepting Medicaid eligible adults in RI, MSDA will convene an Adult Medicaid Case Management Learning Collaborative for ten (10) RI dental offices.

Case Management Learning Collaborative

Evidence demonstrates that when case management services are implemented, use of healthcare services increases.  This Learning Collaborative offers a unique opportunity for dental provider peer-learning, skill building and behavior change. Ten general dental practice teams with little or no experience in Medicaid will be recruited to participate in the Learning Collaborative. MSDA and the faculty will provide intensive training and technical assistance to dental office staff, and will incorporate an integration strategy to link dental offices with community based counselors, RI managed care organizations and other key stakeholders.  Resources will be disseminated and available online for both the public and the Learning Collaborative participants. Dental office personnel will gain competency in dental case management services for low-income, cultural and ethnic minorities by learning how to address cultural, linguistic, transportation, employment and other barriers to receiving dental care services. Strategies for delivering oral health education, anticipatory guidance, and reinforcement of the importance of daily oral hygiene and regular dental visits, as well will be incorporated into the curricula. Specific skills for navigating within the Medicaid delivery system will be emphasized. Collaboration with the RI Medicaid agency in this project will assure the alignment of the Learning Collaborative curricula with existing Medicaid policies, protocols and practices. 

Eligibility

Any RI dental office that currently does NOT accept adult Medicaid patients, but wishes to learn new strategies for managing this population group in their practice may apply. 

Team Incentive

MSDA will provide a $5,000 stipend to ten (10) dental offices—$2500 will be granted to each dental office upon signing an agreement to participate; and the balance will be paid upon demonstration of completion of stated goals. To be eligible to receive the stipend, each dental office participating in the Learning Collaborative will be required to establish practice goals indicating the number of Medicaid adults (min 30 in year 1) they will commit to treat by the end of each year of the Learning Collaborative.  In order to reach the project’s total access objective of 1500 new adult Medicaid patients, MSDA will target a variety of dental practice types, i.e. small and large group.

Why Apply? Benefits for your practice include:

• $5000 stipend per accepted Team
• Improve patient compliance 
• Create positive rapport with patients
• Implement processes that are customized to the special needs of your patients
• Learn and apply process improvement skills to practice management
• Access to national experts in oral health quality improvement
• Join a community of colleagues working toward a common aim, and lead the future of oral health care delivery in RI
• Continued Education (CE) credit for participation in learning sessions 

Teams considering to apply should have a committed leadership, strong team cohesion, and must commit to participaing in all learning sessions. 

Logistics:

• Application Deadline:     June 10th, 2015 at 5:00 pm ET

Meeting Information

• Light Dinner at 5:30 pm ET
• LC Kick-off  Meeting:  Wednesday, June 24th, 2015  from 6:00 to 8:00 pm ET
• Location:  RI Dental Association Headquarters, Warwick, RI

• Note: Team acceptance will be awarded on a first-come, first served basis.  All practice types are encouraged to apply.

Register Now!