Bright-spots, pressing issues, and goals moving forward for oral health in North Carolina were on full display during Oral Health Day on June 21, 2023. The theme for this year’s event was, “Challenges and Opportunities for the Dental Team.” Keynote speaker Kathy Colville and the other wonderful panelists brought expertise and ideas for how North Carolina can become a healthier, more equitable state.
If you missed Oral Health Day 2023 and want to watch the webinar, click here.
Teeth are important, but providers struggle to meet the need
“We have truly amazing and exceptional people holding up an inadequate system.”
This quote from Kathy Colville, president and CEO of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, underscored an important point restated throughout Oral Health Day 2023.
Colville spoke at length about the necessity of a systems-level approach to improving oral health. She began with an analogy about movie tickets, comparing price increases to the cost of an education and health care reimbursement for providers.
Colville said that if she bought a movie ticket today in Burlington, “it will set me back about $11.50. In 2007, around 15 years ago, the average price of a movie ticket was $6.88.”
“Undergraduate in-state tuition for two semesters at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2022-23 was $7,518. In 2007, it was $3,455. That one has more than doubled,” Colville said. “Some of you already know why I’m talking about 2007. It’s because that was the year reimbursement rates to North Carolina’s oral health providers stopped increasing.”
“Keep your health, that’s number one. Teeth are important.”
Colville brought this quote up numerous times throughout her speech during Oral Health Day. The quote comes from her Aunt Anne, who she asked for advice on living a long, healthy life.
“The mouth communicates, eats, smiles, frowns, and makes silly faces,” said Colville.
“Our mouth and teeth allow us to show emotion, communicate our thoughts, and be human. With proper oral health, our mouth can do all of these things better.”
Kathy Colville’s Ideas for High Quality Oral Health Care
- Clinically Advanced
- Culturally-Attuned
- Accessible
- Integrated with Overall Health and Social Care
- Starts with “Oral Health Home” by Age 1
- Based in Trusting Relationships Aligned with Patient Values and Mutual Respect
Medicaid Expansion and Dental Reimbursement Rates
Medicaid was a heavily discussed topic during the panel and Q&A portions of Oral Health Day 2023.
“Medicaid reimbursement rates are frozen in time,” said Rhonda Stephens, Acting Section Chief and Dental Public Health Residency Director at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Oral Health Section. “The rates have barely increased since 2007 and have not increased with inflation.”
With low Medicaid reimbursement, there isn’t much of an incentive for private practices to accept Medicaid insurance. This means individuals on Medicaid have difficulty finding providers which leads to less frequent visits and sub-par oral health.
Medicaid Expansion is also a topic on the horizon for North Carolina oral health providers.
More than 600,000 North Carolina residents are set to gain access to oral health care through Medicaid Expansion. The impact that could have is huge for individuals as well as providers.
For individuals, they will have new opportunity to receive the care they deserve.
For providers, they will need to increase their capacity to be able to serve increased demand.
Improving North Carolina’s Dental Workforce
In order to effectively care for everyone who needs oral health services in North Carolina, the state needs an adequate workforce and infrastructure in place.
As Colville said during her keynote, our current system is inadequate, forcing exceptional people to move mountains to keep it running. Safety net providers make daily sacrifices and work long, grueling hours to care for those in need, creating a system fraught with high turnover rates and difficulty hiring staff.
The panelists brought up topics like flexible hours, more focus on work-life balance, “4/10” work schedules as ways to ensure the existing workforce is better supported. They also discussed the importance of exposing more high school and college students to the dental field and the opportunities within it to help support workforce growth.
Trust in Communities
This year’s Oral Health Day speakers brought up several points about building trust in communities, discussing how essential trust is to ensuring patients get the care they need.
From speaking intentionally and accounting for anxiety, fear, and shame to personalizing care and becoming part of your community, they offered many strategies to build trust with the people providers serve.
Teeth Are Important!
Teeth are important. North Carolina needs better infrastructure so exceptional people do not have to continue holding up an inadequate system. Looking forward, several opportunities are on the horizon as we look past Oral Health Day 2023.
First and foremost, NCIOM and NCOHC have partnered on the Oral Health Transformation Initiative, a multi-sector task force to evaluate, assess, and recommend potential options regarding oral health system transformation.
Since January, 2022, the Oral Health Transformation Task Force has brought together key oral and health care stakeholders, policymakers, academics, and other influencers in the collaborative design, development, and messaging of oral health care transformation opportunities in North Carolina.
In the coming months the task force will be releasing a final report with their findings and recommendations for North Carolina. To learn more about the task force, click here.
