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public policy – WORKFORCE
In January 2005, Oral Health Kansas hosted a workforce summit
to examine a report from the Kansas Health Institute entitled “The
Declining Supply of Dental Services in Kansas: Implications for
Access and Options for Reform”.
From the summit emerged the
following priorities specifically aimed at impacting the dental
workforce shortage in the state. Note: bulleted items listed in bold
type with
an asterisk (*) are strategies to be pursued in 2005:
Priority 1: Increase the supply of dentists and
dental hygienists, especially in low-income
and rural areas
Strategies will emphasize:
- Attracting dentists and dental hygienists to underserved
areas
- Providing incentives to serve rural and low-income areas
- Targeting
the areas of greatest need
Examples:
- Increase the number of subsidized seats in dental schools*
- Attach
requirements to subsidized dental school slots
- Offer focused scholarship
programs for rural or minority students
- Create or expand loan
forgiveness and other incentive-based programs*
- Provide career
education along the educational continuum, with special emphasis
toward rural, low-income and minority students
- Explore means to
enable foreign-trained dentists who are educationally qualified
to obtain licensure
Priority 2: Increase the supply of oral health
care services, especially in low-income and rural areas
Strategies will emphasize:
- Forming partnerships
- Evaluating community capacity
Examples:
- Study and evaluate the use technology to bring dental
care to rural areas
- Explore and evaluate new business models,
i.e. using the “spoke
and wheel” approach (dentist will travel,
patients will travel), subsidizing satellite
offices, sharing
facilities
- Provide fluoride varnish in primary
care settings*
- Explore the feasibility of a residency
program located near an underserved area*
Priority 3: Improve data/monitoring/reporting
Strategies
will emphasize:
- Assessing and providing an inventory of existing
data
- Identifying gaps in data
Examples:
- Promote further independent study, i.e. why those
with insurance don’t
use it, barriers to dentist participation
in Medicaid
- Monitor state practice laws as well as use of Extended Care
Permits to determine what the impact is on access
and assist in identifying barriers
- Promote the authority to reside with State
Office of Oral Health
Read the entire KHI report here: www.khi.org
Click here for discussion
points to use when talking to policy makers about the
Dental
Workforce.
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