Connecting Kids with Dental Care
| In 2007, 12-year-old Deamonte Driver died from complications of an abscessed tooth. His mother could not find a dentist who accepted Medicaid. This tragedy spurred Congress to include language in the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, which required easily accessible contact information for the Medicaid and CHIP participating dental providers in every State on the Insure Kids Now! (IKN) website. CMS, which administers the Medicaid and CHIP programs, partnered with HRSA, which focuses on improving access to care and runs the IKN hotline. Together with at least 150 State Medicaid and CHIP agencies and their managed care organizations, they collected the dental provider data and developed Find Dental Providers. HRSA and CMS devised an easy-to-use electronic submission capability and automated validation tool to improve data quality and reduce administrative burden on States. This “bridge” brings the dental information from the State’s platform to the IKN platform and updates the data hourly. Geospatial and analytical processes transform the provider data for use in a locator tool so that, for the first time, a parent or guardian can search for an oral care provider by name, benefit plan, zip code, map location and driving instructions via a simple click. Websites: Visit Find Dental Providers on InsureKidsNow.gov Contact Info: For technical information, contact Terri L. Cohen (301-443-3144 | tcohen@hrsa.gov). For policy information, contact Nancy Goetschius (410-786-0707 | nancy.goetschius@cms.hhs.gov) or James Resnick (301-443-3222 | jresnick@hrsa.gov ). |
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Connecting Kids with Dental Care
Making it easy for families to find the dental care their children need to grow up healthy.
Learn how the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the States’ Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies applied innovative methods to create a web-based locator tool to match kids enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP with oral health providers who will treat them. More details...
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