June 2015 was a busy month for the WHI. The Community Outreach and Dental Service workgroup published its County Dental Assessment which details a history and context of dental care in Washtenaw County and then analyzes access and cost issues for different populations, and the impacts of oral health on physical health. The assessment was … Read more
In June, the Reduced Fee Dental Initiative concluded. The evaluation report detailed that over 100 people enrolled in the pilot program. The Steering Committee discussed the evaluation results and next steps. Collectively, the group recommended phasing out this project when the Washtenaw County Dental Clinic opened.
On October 1st, patient referrals for the Acute Dental Care Initiative began. This program created an effective referral process to community-based settings for patients presenting with abscess-related diagnoses at the University of Michigan Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Health System emergency rooms. Data from July 2010 through June 2011 found that the participating emergency … Read more
As of June 1st, one year after its start, 63 patients were enrolled in the WHI’s pilot Reduced Fee Dental program. The program would continue to enroll patients, allowing individuals with no insurance to pay for services on a sliding scale based on their income.
Washtenaw County was one of the last counties to have a county-wide dental clinic for uninsured or underinsured individuals. With this recognition, the WHI developed a pilot program designed to test a safety net dental program for county residents. In June, the Reduced Fee Dental Initiative began to enroll patients without dental coverage. Patients would … Read more
By their March 15th meeting, the Community Outreach and Dental Services workgroup had identified six sites to collect additional data from to build the business case for an acute dental care pilot. This initiative would create a referral process for those in need to receive dental care in community-based settings.
At the June 28th Steering Committee meeting, the WHI leaders formally outlined seven projects: Primary Care Navigation; Care Navigation; Dental Acute Care Expansion; Dental Reduced Fee Program; Streamlining Medicaid Eligibility as a Beta Test for the State; Medicaid Enrollment; and Community Outreach for Medicaid Enrollment. The projects’ goals and objectives were shared by the two … Read more
By Monday, March 7th, during an early meeting of WHI Steering Committee members at the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT) in Ann Arbor, four committees had been established: primary care capacity, dental care, mental health and substance use disorder care, and health insurance enrollment. On the same day, the Dental Care subcommittee had … Read more