G-2301-17691

The Maryland Dental Action Coalition (MDAC) is the state’s leading non-governmental oral health policy and advocacy organization. MDAC works to improve the health of all Marylanders through increased oral health promotion, disease prevention, education, advocacy, and access to oral health care. MDAC’s advocacy to improve oral health equity led to great success that expanded access to care for approximately 750,000 low-income adults. The benefit includes coverage for diagnostic, preventive, restorative, and periodontal services.

Over several years of partnership, MDAC has found success as an oral health advocacy leader in the broader oral health field. The organization’s success last year went beyond Medicaid expansion. In 2022, MDAC’s work in oral health advocacy led to the authorization of dental hygienists to co-locate in practices of nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and certified midwives during prenatal and postpartum care. Additionally, the state of Maryland will begin implement the Healthy Babies Equity Act, which will require the state’s Medical Assistance Program to provide comprehensive medical care to non-citizen pregnant women and children up to one year old. With MDAC leading the advocacy efforts, advocates successfully secured dental care’s addition to the Healthy Babies program.

In Maryland, there are still several implementation goals that must be met and MDAC plans to support these efforts through consumer outreach and education, care coordination engagement, and continued advocacy for policies that address barriers that impede access to care for the most vulnerable adults. There will also continue to be a need for data collection and analysis of the benefit’s utilization among newly insured individuals as well as innovative planning to respond to the workforce crisis the dental field and millions of Americans are currently experiencing. MDAC has outlined the following activities to improve oral health care access in Maryland:

Increase consumer knowledge and participation in Medicaid adult dental program through a targeted communications campaign in partnership with community and state-based care agencies.

Work with care coordination professionals and consumer services organizations on expanded education, resources, and linkages to care.

Administer surveys and facilitate discussion groups among care coordinators and adult consumers to collect narratives on experiences with accessing dental health care services.

Engage a CHW as an official member of the MDAC Collaborative Advisory Group

Coordinate with partners on initiatives to integrate dental care into prenatal and postpartum settings.

Conduct a review of the national landscape of other state Medicaid adult dental plans to compare the strength of the Maryland plan. This will help MDAC identify areas in MD that need improvements to better meet patient needs.

In addition to these activities, MDAC is a member of the Pathways to Bright Future Program Advisory Committee which works to address the shortage of dental professionals in Maryland. MDAC’s participation in this program will focus on the organization’s ability to connect youth from Health Professional Shortage Areas, who are interested in the dental profession, to learning opportunities and scholarships.

This proposal is for $150,802, which is consistent with CareQuest Institute’s historical grantmaking to MDAC. Funds from this grant will support two staff members (CEO and Program Manager) as well as travel, communication, meeting, and supply expenses. Also included in the proposed budget are two consultants, the MDAC Government Affairs consultant and the Director of the MDAC Medicaid Adult Dental Collaborative, who will advise on policy development and support relationship management with key policy stakeholders. Overall, there is strong support for this organization and its work on oral health policy advocacy, therefore this proposal is being recommended for funding. As a long-time partner of CareQuest Institute, there will also be discussions around what opportunities may exist to support community engagement and power-building within Maryland to ensure that new community voices are being engaged. The proposed scope of work is aligned with CareQuest Institute’s strategy and where other states who also secured adult dental benefits, currently find themselves (implementation).