DentaQuest Institute Newsletter
Fall 2016
Join Our Team!
We are looking for a Quality Improvement Project Manager for our Disease Management group. 
The Disease Management group oversees a wide and growing portfolio of programs dedicated to transforming caries and periodontal disease management practice improvement efforts and team-based care. While the majority of the Disease Management group's time is dedicated to facilitating collaboratives among the dental community, we are also increasing our presence with integrating oral health into primary care.

The Project Manager will report to the Director of Quality Improvement and work closely with DentaQuest Institute leadership, project staff, participating practices, and other academic and community partners.

To read more about this opportunity, please click this link to review the job posting.
DentaQuest Mission Month
Twelve members of the DentaQuest Institute team  volunteered at Abby's House in Worcester MA as part of the DentaQuest Mission Month program. We cleaned, painted, and did yard work. A great time was had by all and our efforts were really appreciated.
  
We hope to be able to do more with Abby's House in the future. 
Welcome Joe Wislar
to the Analytics and Publications Team
 J oe Wislar is a biostatistician and comes to DQI with more than 20 years of experience, having served the last 11 years as the primary statistical reviewer for the Journal of American Medical Association.
 
Joe received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
 
When not designing complex statistical models, Joe enjoys working on old cars, creating functional art, playing the upright bass, and spending time with his family.
Editorial Published in Pediatric Dentistry
A big milestone for quality improvement in dentistry was the publication of our editorial in Pediatric Dentistry.  Click here for PDF.
 
Dr. Chalmers, Director of Analytics and Publication, continues to present this innovative work at national and state conferences.  Read More
Presentation at the PACHC 2016 Annual Conference & Clinical Summit
Safety Net Solutions Project Manager, Caroline Darcy recently presented at the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers (PACHC) 2016 Annual Conference & Clinical Summit. The conference theme was "The Strength of People, The Power of Community".

Titled  "Dental Successful Practices: Barriers, Challenges and Success Stories", Caroline shared information about the history of PACHC's three year partnership with the DentaQuest Foundation's Strengthening the Oral Health Safety Net initiative.  Caroline was joined by Dr. Maryna Petrasheuskaya DDS, Associate Dental Director, Community Health Net in Erie, PA and Bev Myers, Director of Dental Care Services, Keystone Dental Care Services in Chambersburg, PA.
SNS Hosts Annual Expert Advisor Convening
The DentaQuest Institute's (DQI) Safety Net Solutions (SNS) program hosted its annual Expert Advisor Convening in Boston last month, bringing together DQI staff and individuals from across the country that work as SNS expert advisors (EAs). Each year this convening serves as a platform for providing training and support to the EAs, sharing important updates about various SNS projects, and obtaining feedback based on their work in the field. This year's topics included SNS client satisfaction survey responses, lessons from HRSA operational site visits, churning, EDR/EHR integration, billing and coding, RVUs, and payment and care delivery reform. The group spent two days sharing information and ideas that will lead to improved technical assistance and training services for all SNS clients.  Read More
Dr. Mark Doherty and Dori Bingham celebrate
10 years leading SafetyNet Solutions
at the DentaQuest Institute
Congratulations to Mark and Dori!
Caries Risk Assessment: Getting Started 
Anyone who has tried to implement caries risk assessment in practice knows the challenges that come along with adding new elements to patient appointments. Something as simple as a risk assessment brings with it unique challenges, especially when you're also trying to change patient behavior. Before implementing caries risk assessment, some key elements of the process need to be figured out, so the procedure doesn't become a rote series of questions and answers. When properly performed, the caries risk assessment should be a conversation that leads to behavior change and an improvement in oral health.

Together with input from many dental practices around the country, the DentaQuest Institute developed a
Caries Risk Assessment Handout, which includes a series of implementation ideas your practice can use to get started. A dental provider workflow was also created
for clinicians to use as they determine how to incorporate caries risk assessment into patient visits. There are many types of caries risk assessment forms to use, and deciding which form is right for your office is just the beginning.  Read More
MORE Care Pennsylvania Kicks Off
in Meadville, PA
In partnership with the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, 9 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) representing two rural hospital systems in Pennsylvania, gathered in Meadville, PA on September 22 to kick off MORE Care Pennsylvania at its 1st learning session. The purpose of the gathering was to begin a care delivery transformation that would allow practices to include or expand on oral health services as part of their patient's healthcare in the primary care setting. MORE Care looks to improve the oral health of patients living in rural areas through increasing the oral health preventive workforce, developing a shared responsibility in primary care for early detection of oral disease, and strengthening pathways for primary care providers to refer and communicate with dental providers.  Read More
MORE Care Teams Present Oral Health Integration Strategies at South Carolina Office of Rural Health Annual Meeting
Rural primary care clinics that participated in the MORE Care collaborative led a panel discussion at the South Carolina Office of Rural Health's Annual Meeting on October 26th about the integration of oral health into rural primary care practices. The three participating Rural Health Centers had spent the past 18 months working with the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, DentaQuest Institute, and other state partners to adopt and adapt chronic oral disease management strategies into their practices, including the provision of an oral health risk assessment and fluoride varnish, development of self-management goals, and referral to a local dental provider. The participants in the South Carolina MORE Care Collaborative pilot reported greater understanding of oral health issues and how to address them using prevention strategies. 
NEW Online Module: 
Interprofessional Practice 
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Special Topic Module on the DQI Online Learning Center. The topic of this 60-minute, self-paced module is centered around interprofessional oral health care. The module will touch on oral health's role in integrated care, the current methodology for implementing integrated care in your own practice, and how interprofessionalism can improve quality of care an create financial sustainability.   
 
The audience for this online learning module is any oral health professional interested in learning more about oral health's role in integrated care, in improving the quality of care, and in creating financial sustainability. It is designed to accommodate learners with different backgrounds and varying levels of expertise in integrated care.
   
Click here to access our online learning modules. Please note: You will need to Register to enroll and complete our online modules. 
 
FREE CEU's are available upon completion of these modules.
Analytics and Publication Forms Partnerships to Create and Join two Fellowship Programs
DentaQuest Institute is partnering with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and Health Choice Network to create a 2-year full-time Fellowship in Oral Health Informatics (OHI). DQI will help the Fellow access dental electronic health record (EHR) databases to provide opportunities for conducting informatics research. Applications will be accepted from July 15, 2016 through January 15, 2017, and the fellow will begin in July 2017. For more information, click here.

We are also delighted to announce that the DentaQuest Institute has partnered with AcademyHealth to participate as a 2017 AcademyHealth Delivery System Science Fellowship Host Site. DQI joins other leading delivery systems and becomes the first oral health delivery system site for this fellowship.
Fellowship Opportunity with Nation's Leading Delivery Systems

Apply today for the 2017 AcademyHealth Delivery System Science Fellowship.

Train with leading delivery systems using evidence to improve health and the performance of the health system. AcademyHealth's  Delivery System Science Fellowship  offers a year-long learning opportunity for highly-qualified, post-doctoral researchers to gain more applied experience in a delivery system setting.  As part of this unique fellowship experience, individuals with a background in health services research or related fields are placed within leading delivery systems to apply and enhance their analytic skills and obtain hands-on training and professional development opportunities.  Read More
Additional Contributions

Dr. Natalia Chalmers continues her contributions to The Bump, a monthly blog on pregnancy and oral health and was recently featured on a BabyCenter.com blog "  Kids' teeth: How much candy really is too much? "

Dr. Natalia Chalmers and Tequila Terry, DentaQuest Vice President of Policy Implementation take part in the prestigious MGH Disparities Leadership Program . They are dedicated to understanding racial and ethnic disparities in oral health and the development and implementation of strategies to achieve equity in oral health.
Dr. Brian Nový Delivers Caries Risk Assessment Lecture
Dr. Brian Nový delivered a lecture at the DentaQuest Institute office in Westborough, MA. Titled "Tsk Tsk Tsk, You're High Caries Risk", Brian captivated his audience with information on topics like how to use Caries Risk Assessment to track health outcomes, describe the ADA Caries Classification System and minimize the ramifications of risk factors.
 
This lecture was videotaped and will be offered on our Online Learning Center in future months.  
About the DentaQuest Institute

The DentaQuest Institute is a national nonprofit focused on quality in dental care.
Our mission is to support and promote optimal oral health through efficient and effective care and prevention. We emphasize a hands-on approach, working directly with oral health care providers across the country to make improvements to clinical care protocols, practice management processes, and use of technology-all with an emphasis on preventing and managing oral disease.

www.DentaQuestInstitute.org