New strategies for healthier kids

How can your state improve children's health and potentially lower costs? New resources from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Oral Health Initiative aim to help.

Three issue briefs outline policy and program strategies for reducing early childhood tooth decay through prevention and chronic disease management. 

1. For State Medicaid and CHIP Dental Program Managers 

This brief provides a table of five implementation strategies with guidance on program rules, payment policies and provider support.

2. For State Policymakers 

There are two briefs: one brief with an overview of opportunities for reducing early decay, and a second brief with action steps for leadership in programs, payment and policies.

3. For Both State Program Managers and State Policymakers 

A webinar recording: "Reducing Early Childhood Tooth Decay: Approaches in Medicaid" (register to access the webinar)

Learn how Medicaid and CHIP programs can approach the problem of early childhood caries (ECC, the infectious disease that causes tooth decay) through prevention and disease management. This 90-minute recorded webinar provides:

• A set of actionable strategies that states can implement to begin moving toward a prevention and management approach to ECC

• Examples from North Carolina, which has:

  • Set program rules and standards, and aligned payment policies to support aspects of ECC prevention and management 

  • Helped Medicaid and CHIP medical and dental providers implement ECC prevention and management

Moderated by Meg Booth, CDHP's policy director, the webinar includes presentations by: 

• Burton Edelstein, DDS, MPH, Professor of Dental Medicine and Health Policy & Management, Columbia University

• Laurie Norris, JD, Senior Policy Advisor and Coordinator of the CMS Oral Health Initiative, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

• Susan Ruiz, Oral Health and EPSDT lead, CMS San Francisco Regional Office, Division of Medicaid & Children’s Health Operations

• Mark Casey, DDS, MPH, Dental Director, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

• Darlene Baker, Dental Policy Analyst, Division of Medical Assistance, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

The Children's Dental Health Project is honored to partner with Mathematica Policy Research in supporting CMS in these activities. We'll share further information on Oral Health Initiative resources as they are released. 

• Effective Tools for States
• Medicaid & CHIP