West Virginia’s RHTP project narrative includes oral health within its initiatives for a “connected care grid” and workforce development

“West Virginia faces the nation’s toughest rural health and economic challenges. Poor health and disability are the top reasons that West Virginians cite for not working. Reversing that reality is at the heart of this plan. The state will tackle foundational health barriers that hold back workforce participation (including addiction, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, COPD, and asthma), make West Virginia a hub for rural health innovation, and modernize care delivery and payment systems to drive healthcare value and ensure long-term sustainability. The RHT Plan will center on seven flagship initiatives:

1) Connected Care Grid will bring healthcare access directly to people—both in person and digitally—by integrating telehealth, remote monitoring, and local care coordination.

2) Rural Health Link will unify medical and community transportation into a one-stop system so distance and mobility are never barriers to care.

3) Mountain State Care Force will attract top clinical talent while training and retaining West Virginia’s own future providers.

4) Smart Care Catalyst will equip rural providers with payment and data tools that free time for patients and sustain provider viability.

5) Health to Prosperity Pipeline will connect recovery, care management, and employment programs to help every West Virginian find work and prosperity.

6) Personal Health Accelerator will use education and incentives to empower West Virginians to lead healthy, productive lives through prevention, nutrition, and exercise.

7) HealthTech Appalachia will incubate leap-frog technologies that improve outcomes and generate growth, establishing West Virginia as a hub for health innovation.”[1]

Under the Connected Care Grid initiative, dental offices are included as potential eligible applicants as healthcare facilities applying to serve as provider “hubs”:

“Equip hub-and-spoke modelled grid to support telehealth, telemedicine, mobile care units, RPM, and paramedicine to serve people closer to home:

• Use funds to outfit provider “hubs” (e.g., hospitals, FQHCs/CHCs, mobile care units) & patient access “spokes” (e.g., employer campuses, schools, libraries, community centers, kiosks) with the capabilities and technology needed to enable provision of care…

Applicants can include healthcare facilities (e.g., FQHCs/CHCs, dental offices, public health, pharmacies), community locations (e.g., employer campuses, schools, libraries, senior centers), mobile units, EMS, associations (e.g., WV Primary Care Association)” [2]

Within the Mountain State Care Force initiative, oral health staff are also included within the efforts to recruit and retain the rural workforce:

“Fund statewide recruitment campaigns to promote WV as a destination for healthcare professionals (incl., physicians, allied health, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, dental assistants/hygienists, EMS), highlighting incentive programs, lifestyle advantages, community impact, and success stories to attract providers and their families, modeled after Ascend54 and other programs”

More info: [Available Here]