Challenge
Low-income mothers and children in Oregon have low rates of dental care, and rates of tooth decay in young children are higher than the national average. Advantage Dental, a cooperatively owned dental care network, is changing its payment and delivery model in order to extend service to disdvantaged mothers and children in rural areas.
Partners:
- University of Washington Northwest Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities
- Advantage Dental Services (owned by Advantage Community Holding Company, LLC)
Setting
Oregon is one of two states with the lowest dental care utilization rates in the nation. Only 10 percent of Medicaid/CHIP-enrolled children in Oregon receive the recommended dental care visit when they turn 1 year old, and only 39% of Oregon Health Plan-eligible children and 43% of eligible pregnant women received any form of preventive dental service in 2014.
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Patient participants
Advantage serves 82,000 pregnant women, children, and new mothers enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan across 14 rural Oregon counties; the intervention takes place in six of these counties (Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson-Josephine, Klamath, Morrow, and Wasco).
Intervention team
The intervention team for each county includes all Advantage-affiliated clinics and dentists in that county; one or more EPDHs who work in the community; and a regional manager community liaison (RMCL), who coordinates partnerships with community organizations and oversees EPDHs. An administrative team works across counties and includes case managers who connect patients with identified needs to services in a clinical setting, IT administrators, and other administrative staff.
Payment incentive and budgeting
Advantage employs a global budgeting capitation model, pooling the fixed payments it receives per patient. This enables funds to be directed toward innovative care models. Of the approximately $6.9 million allocated to Advantage through the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid), the company directs a little over 2% into a bonus pool that is disbursed to the county team (EPDHs and dentists) for reaching goals of increased screening, in-field treatment of at-risk patients, and follow-up care in target counties, and which is also disbursed to the care coordinators and RMCLs if all counties meet the targets.
Tools for success
Community-based outreach
EPDHs screen and treat patients at schools and other sites through partnerships with community organizations.
Dental home
High-risk patients identified in community settings are provided seamless access to dentists in solo practices and clinics.
Root cause analysis
Surveys of providers and patients pinpoint potential causes of low care utilization rates. Follow-up discussions with stakeholders produce action steps.
Risk-based system
All patients are screened individually, and those at risk receive silver diamine fluoride treatment, follow-up care, and, if necessary, referral to a dental home.
Silver diamine fluoride
This cost-effective topical medication effectively arrests dental cavities, treating the underlying disease, and can be applied in community settings by EPDHs.
Electronic Health Record
ADIN, the EHR used by Advantage, enables information sharing among case managers, dentists and clinics, and care teams in the field. For example, it notifies case managers when a patient has been flagged for follow-up care.
Performance data
Monthly updates on patients seen and patients requiring care enable incentive payments and allow staff to measure their progress and understand where greater efforts are needed. Target metrics for receiving the bonus payment are adjusted upward each quarter.
Finding Answers: Solving Disparities Through Payment and Delivery System Reform is a national program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with technical assistance and direction provided by the University of Chicago. Finding Answers was created to discover and disseminate practical ways to achieve health equity and is currently focused on discovering how healthcare payment and delivery systems can be redesigned to reduce and eliminate health care disparities. Its current work includes three pilot projects involving health systems and payers partnering to improve health equity.