G-2302-17997

Oral Health Kansas (OHK) is committed to improving oral health in Kansas through advocacy, public awareness, and education. Oral Health Kansas has been a funded grantee partner of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health since 2011. In recent years, OHK has focused their advocacy efforts toward successfully expanding and now implementing adult dental benefits within the state’s Medicaid program, KanCare. The new dental benefits went into effect on July 1, 2022, and include fillings, crowns, periodontal care, and silver diamine fluoride.

In earlier years of support (2018), CareQuest Institute grant funding supported OHK to convene and collaborate with its closest organizational partners to establish a coordinated system of advocacy, increase capacity of the dental workforce, and bring oral health into mainstream conversation by changing public perception. Since then, OHK has led the state’s advocacy efforts to increase access to dental benefits for adults enrolled in KanCare and, more recently, Oral Health Kansas successfully launched the initial phase of their community-informed implementation of the new adult dental benefit. OHK has increased awareness of the dental benefit to community members and policymakers through education, communications, and political campaigns. Relative to their track record of successful community engagement, the organization successfully stood up its new Lived Experience Advisory Group, which creates opportunities for individuals with lived experience to not only stay connected to Oral Health Kansas and issues of oral health equity but also to inform new policy agendas and develop their own advocacy capacity.

This proposal falls under the Advancing Equity through Oral Health portfolio and seeks to capitalize on impressive momentum developed in Kansas around oral health benefit expansion and OHK’s expertise and leadership in leading state and federal advocacy efforts. First, despite the legislative wins around dental benefits and reimbursement rates, access to preventive dental services for adults exist through the state’s three managed care organizations (MCOs) value-added benefits (VAB) packages and cover a $500 per year benefit that includes exams and cleanings. Based on many conversations with both providers and consumers, OHK believes there is an opportunity to advocate for a more streamlined Medicaid dental program by moving dental exams and cleanings from these VAB packages into the Medicaid state plan. With CareQuest Institute funding, OHK will continue to lead discussions with the state’s MCOs through its Sedation Dental Care Task Force and Pathway to Oral Health (POH) teams, who work to reduce barriers and disparities for Kansans in need of immediate care as well as those with disabilities. Additionally, OHK’s POH team will be launching an ECHO series that focuses on addressing clinical and systemic challenges faced by individuals with I/DD.

The organization will also continue advocating for a more streamlined and accessible dental benefit for adult use. Stakeholders outside of oral health are increasingly prioritizing oral health, therefore OHK will work to grow and strengthen the network of dental providers serving Medicaid members

This grant proposal originally included a request for $177,025 but was revised to exclude expenses related to lobbying and is therefore being recommended for a grant of $170,000. At this recommended amount, this grant from CareQuest Institute would constitute approximately 27% of the organization’s overall budget. The request grant funds will be used primarily to support staff salaries across five project roles. In addition to personnel, grant funding will also be applied toward travel expenses related to in-person stakeholder meetings, stipends for members of the Lived Experience Advisory Group, and communications. CareQuest Institute grant funds will be partially matched by the OHK.