Oral health included in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funding

It's encouraging to see oral health increasingly recognized as an essential component of overall health and system-level transformation. (CMS Announces $50 Billion in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States)

A shout-out to the 14 states that explicitly included oral or dental health in their project abstracts:

Alaska, Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Across these abstracts, several themes emerged:

+ Rural oral health workforce strategies to improve provider-to-population ratios for dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants

+ Integrated rural health delivery models, including networked clinics that incorporate dental care

+ Enhanced care coordination and movement toward value-based models that include oral health

+ Expanded access to dental care, particularly in underserved communities

+ Improved access to preventive and emergency dental services, including mobile, portable, and teledental approaches

+ Embedded dental clinics in K-12 schools and college campuses, school-based health centers

+ School-based screening initiatives, including dental, to support early identification and treatment for children

(Read the abstracts here)