Influencing State Budget Investment & Regulations to Enhance Oral Health Care at Community Health Centers
The California Primary Care Association (CPCA) recognizes the importance of ensuring health centers have the financial resources and regulatory flexibility to provide and enhance comprehensive, accessible oral health care. Our continued work encompasses both policy and programmatic efforts, focusing on influencing regulatory flexibilities and budget investment, as well as providing training and educational resources to health centers.
The following initiatives not only enhance the capacity of health centers to deliver quality services but also contribute to improving the overall oral health outcomes of underserved communities across the state.
Collaborating on Community-Based Dental Rotation Grant Implementation
CPCA is working with the California Dental Association (CDA) Foundation on the dissemination of the 2022-23 state budget’s $10 million grant investment to create new and enhanced community-based dental student rotations. Through our participation on the grant advisory committee, we successfully educated committee members and state regulators on how community health centers (CHCs) are uniquely positioned to be prime candidates for this grant opportunity given the communities they serve and their Health Professional Shortage Area designation. As a result, CDA and the California State Dental Director of the California Department of Public Health Office of Oral Health reached out to CPCA staff to strategize and partner on recruitment efforts of health center dental program applicants.
In partnership with CDA, CPCA provided a learning opportunity (Password: PQ7JmN%$) on May 31, 2023 for CHCs on leveraging the Community-Based Clinical Education (CBCE) model to enhance dental student rotations. During this learning session, representatives from the University of the Pacific and Western University walked attendees through their CBCE program and how they partner with CHCs to provide dental students experience in a community clinic setting. Then, San Mateo Medical Center and Wesley Health Centers shared their experience partnering with the dental school CBCE programs, along with promising practices on how to leverage them as a workforce recruitment strategy and increase access to oral health care.
The advisory committee is now reviewing funding applications on a rolling basis through January 2026, and CPCA encourages members with existing or potential dental infrastructure to explore partnership opportunities with participating dental schools to ensure the funds draw down to health center dental programs.
Advocating for Regulatory Flexibility: Medi-Cal Dental Program Provider Policy & Future CMS Dental Audits
On April 5, 2023 CPCA, along with a few member Dental Directors, met with leadership from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Medi-Cal Dental Program and Audits & Investigations (A&I) to discuss, and provide solutions to, member concerns regarding current DHCS dental provider policy and future Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) dental audits. Our advocacy efforts were successful, and the Medi-Cal Dental Program agreed to CPCA’s recommended solutions, specifically:
Update current language in DHCS’ dental provider policy to clarify that health centers can provide both covered and non-covered services during the same visit. This revision will enhance the flexibility and comprehensiveness of dental care delivery.
Collaborate with CPCA to develop training on documentation best practices, ensuring continued support for health center dental programs to operationalize and comply with DHCS’s dental provider policy.
Establish quarterly meetings between CPCA and Medi-Cal Dental Program leadership to foster ongoing collaboration and address emerging issues that impact health center dental programs.
Regarding future CMS health center dental program audits, during the meeting, CPCA advocated that A&I delay their current timeline for when audits can resume in CA from August 2023 to April 2024; ensuring that health centers have adequate time to implement the dental provider policy. A&I recently confirmed with CPCA that they were amenable to updating the CMS dental audit resumption date to April 24, 2024. A&I also noted that they will engage with CMS on dental audits after April 24, 2024, only if CMS’ contractors express interest in resuming health center dental audits.
For more information on CPCA’s oral health programmatic work, please contact Amanda Carbajal, Associate Director of Health Center Operations, at acarbajal@cpca.org.