Evaluation of a Federally Qualified Health Center's (FQHC) oral health intervention program on preventable dental emergency department visits

Background/Purpose: Nationally and at the state level, government and private groups have been working on initiatives to improve oral health. Federally funded health centers have also begun increasing their services to meet the oral health needs of low-income and vulnerable populations. In the mid-2000's, Kansas initiated a collaborative effort of government and private agencies to improve oral health care. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact these funding policy initiatives had on one rural Federally Qualified Health Center's (FQHC) capacity and local preventable dental emergency department (ED) visits.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted. Annual ED and FQHC data were collected prior to and after the FQHC received increased funding for their oral health program. Data from previous studies (2000-2007) and new data (2008-2010) were used to collect information on dental visits, insurance status, diagnosis, funding, costs and demographic data. ED visits were analyzed using the Agency for Health Quality and Research's classification of dental ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC).

Results: Following increased funding of the FQHC's expanded oral health project there was an increase of dental providers and encounters; as well as a 25% decrease in ACSC uninsured and Medicaid dental ED visits (2005 to 2007). However, 2007 ED ACSC visits remained higher than earlier ED rates (2000-2004). Final analysis of new data (2008-2010) will be complete the summer of 2011.

Conclusions: Initial results found the new oral funding initiatives increased capacity at the FQHC, with some decrease in ED ACSC dental visits.