Health Resources and Services Administration

Description

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) solicits applications for the Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement (PIOHQI) Expansion Grant Program, the second phase of the Perinatal and Infant Oral Health National Initiative. The goal of this grant program, as with this multi-phase initiative, is to reduce the prevalence of oral disease in both pregnant women and infants through improved access to quality oral health care. By targeting pregnant women and infants most at risk for disease, during times of increased health care access, the expected result is improved oral health and oral health care utilization of the mother and her child throughout their lifespan. Oral health is an essential component in promoting and maintaining overall health during pregnancy and throughout one¿s lifetime. Ultimately, by linking the delivery of oral health with primary care, the overall well-being of pregnant women and infants will be improved. At the end of this funding period, awardees will have defined and implemented evidenced-based models used to successfully integrate quality oral health care into perinatal and infant primary health care delivery systems with statewide reach. These models will: reduce prevalence of oral disease in pregnant women and infants, ultimately reducing Early Childhood Caries (ECC); increase utilization of preventive dental care by pregnant women; establish a dental homexii,xiii for infants (by age one); and reduce dental expenditures. Lessons learned from implementing these state models will be used to develop the National Implementation Framework for Improved Perinatal and Infant Oral Health. As a guide, this framework will support state stakeholders (i.e., government leaders, oral health professionals, community and state health program directors, and others) in their efforts to: (1) expand opportunities for access to direct oral health services; (2) increase delivery of best practices for oral health care, including oral health clinical competencies of primary care providersxiv; (3) enhance statewide data sources, making available ¿real time¿ data with common oral health metrics; and (4) support sustainability, including state policy and legislation changes to ensure sufficient reimbursement. Specific to sustainability after the period of Federal funding ends, awardees are expected to sustain key elements of their grant projects (e.g., strategies or services and interventions, which have been effective in increasing access to quality oral health care and improving the oral health status of the target populations). Sustainability can be achieved in various ways, including both Federal and/or state funding support, private-public partnerships, self-generating revenue. Oral health care includes, but is not limited to, oral health education, fluoride treatment, dental sealants, dental cleaning/prophylaxis, and dental restorative services. Through collaborations that lead to public and private partnerships, awardees will expand opportunities for direct access to oral health services in safety net settings, such as: community health centers, university dental training programs, private offices, and public health clinics. This collaboration could lead to changes in policy that ensure sufficient reimbursement to health professionals. Access to oral health services can also be supported through mutual agreements with health care service systems that serve pregnant women and infants, including the Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Head Start, Home Visiting, Healthy Start, and Title V programs. Ultimately, such concurrence will result in an increase in referrals for the much needed direct oral health care. Valid and timely data is essential in measuring the success of new programs and in crafting policy. One example of such a data source is the National Oral Health Surveillance System[i] (NOHSS), developed through collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD). The NOHSS is designed to track oral health surveillance indicators based on data sources and surveillance capacity available to most states. Yet, despite the efforts of CDC and ASTDD, there are limits to this data source: only 42 states currently add data to the NOHSS and data from 10 of the 42 states are over five years old.xv This FOA addresses approaches the awardees will use to enhance and/or develop statewide data sources to provide ¿real time¿ data with common metrics, ideally building upon current data infrastructures. MCHB encourages the awardees to use the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)[ii] given that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010x amended section 399LL-2(d) of the Public Health Service Act directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to include oral health in PRAMS [i] National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Oral Health and Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors. National Oral Health Surveillance System. [Found at: http://www.cdc.gov/nohss/] [ii] National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. [Found at: http://www.cdc.gov/prams/index.htm]

Who can apply

• Others

Contact

Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA Grants Application Center, 910 Clopper Road, Suite 155 South, Gaithersburg, MD, 20878<br/>PVodicka@hrsa.gov<br/>
PVodicka@hrsa.gov