Catalyst Institute is Renamed DentaQuest Institute

Westborough, MA -- As of April 1, 2009, the Catalyst Institute is renamed the DentaQuest Institute.

This name links the Institute with the DentaQuest national oral health enterprise whose mission is to improve oral health. We do this is in a number of ways: through administration of quality dental benefit programs (DentaQuest), philanthropy (DentaQuest Foundation, formerly the Oral Health Foundation) that emphasizes prevention and supports public awareness for optimal oral health, and our evidence-based research that has the potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of care delivery systems. Together, we are dedicated to better oral health for all.

In 2009, the DentaQuest Institute continues its work on signature projects. We will be adding clinical research partners to our early childhood caries project (www.DentaQuestInstitute.org/programs/early-childhood-caries-project/). We are also developing a research protocol for our 2010 quality improvement project which will focus on dental sealants.

Our model dental practice, the DentaQuest Oral Health Center (www.DentaQuestOHC.com), based in Westborough, Massachusetts now provides care to over 13,000 patients. The Oral Health Center continues its work as a clinical research center for several patient-care related national research projects.

The Institute’s Safety Net Solutions team is now working with over 40 safety net dental practices across the United States. Public and private funders are including Safety Net Solutions in their grant making to help safety net dental practices establish sustainable, results-oriented business practices. With the rapid growth in requests for technical assistance from all parts of the United States, Safety Net Solutions is in the midst of a focused expansion of its advisory team, involving community dental health leaders from across the United States as expert advisors.

About the DentaQuest Institute (www.DentaQuestInstitute.org)
The DentaQuest Institute, based in Westborough, Massachusetts, engages in research, evaluation and demonstration projects that add to the knowledge base of oral health care. Institute research supports practitioners, insurers, policy makers, advocates, funders and consumers in making thoughtful and effective decisions about oral health care.

About DentaQuest (www.DentaQuest.com)
DentaQuest, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is the fourth largest oral health enterprise in the United States. DentaQuest takes an integrated and holistic approach that considers all aspects of oral health: from the administration of benefit plans critical to prevention (DentaQuest), to evidence –based research that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of care, to philanthropy focused on elevating public awareness and supporting solutions that work.

Transforming Oral Health Care Delivery

Early Childhood Caries and Sealants

The DentaQuest Institute undertakes a quality improvement project that is focused on an aspect of access, efficiency, or delivery of oral health care.

Quality improvement projects start with an oral health problem or recognized need. In 2008, the Institute investigated care for children with advanced early childhood caries. For the past nine months, Director of Analytics, Dr. Alex White, has been working with co-researchers, Dr. Man Wai Ng, Chief, Department of Dentistry, Children's Hospital Boston and Dr. Dan Kane, Director of Dentistry, Saint Joseph Hospital, Providence, to test an alternative science-based approach to managing advanced caries in young children in hospital settings. This project is mid-way through the data collection phase. Preliminary data suggests reduction in operating room utilization along with reduction in new caries and oral pain at the Children’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital test sites.

The 2009 DentaQuest Institute quality improvement project is dental sealants. Following the model used for the Early Childhood Caries project, the Institute will bring key stakeholders together to write a data-driven problem statement, review the latest literature on effective sealant interventions, identify appropriate clinical partners, and develop a protocol that targets improvements in key clinical outcomes. The clinical phase of the sealant quality improvement project is expected to begin by the end of the year and will run for an 18-month period.

Decisions about the annual quality improvement project, including focus, development, and spread, involve the Institute's Advisory Committee on Quality Improvement. This panel engages dental, medical, and community health leaders and ensures that proposed projects meet key criteria.

The committee advising DentaQuest Institute Quality Improvements for 2009 are:

Burton Edelstein, DDS, Professor of Dentistry and Health Policy & Management, Columbia University Medical Center; Founder and Chair, Children's Dental Health Project.
Charles Homer, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, Harvard University.
Jeffrey Lasker, MD, Chief Executive Officer of the New England Quality Care Alliance, the Physician Network of Tufts-New England Medical Center.
Martin Lieberman, DDS, Dental Director, Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers.
Man Wai Ng, DDS, MPH, Dentist in Chief, Boston Children's Hospital.
Hugh Silk, MD, Family Physician; Faculty, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.

Clinical research is Key to Success of the Institute’s Oral Health Center

To learn more about the importance of clinical research at the Oral Health Center, click here to view the PEARL Newsletter which features an interview from Dr. Peter Blanchard, https://web.emmes.com/study/pearl/newsletters/fall2008.pdf

The Institute's Oral Health Center Ranks 1st in PEARL Network Research Efforts

The Institute’s Westborough-based Oral Health Center was named the top dental practice in recruitment of subjects to participate in research aimed at improving oral health care. The Oral Health Center is one of nearly 150 practices in 12 states participating in the PEARL Network. PEARL, which stands for Practitioners Engaged in Applied Research and Learning, is one of three regional practice-based research networks funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Practices within the PEARL Network agree to help develop and participate in oral health research studies on topics of interest to practicing dentists. The Oral Health Center is currently involved in three Network studies and will be starting a fourth randomized clinical trial later this year.

Along with the distinction of being number one in recruitment, the Oral Health Center’s president, Dr. Peter Blanchard, was recently elected to serve on the PEARL Network’s nine-member Executive Committee. In this role, Dr. Blanchard is not only expanding the Oral Health Center’s leadership role within the Network and but is also establishing a national presence for the DentaQuest Institute in helping to shape research that improves oral health care.

The Institute’s Safety Net Solutions Advises California HealthCare Foundation

Dr. Mark Doherty and Dori Bingham of the Institute's Safety Net Solutions Program recently partnered with Mary Kate Scott and the California HealthCare Foundation to produce a comprehensive report on best practices in community health dental programs entitled, "The Good Practice: Treating Underserved Dental Patients While Staying Afloat. To view this report, click here http://www.chcf.org/topics/medi-cal/index.cfm?itemID=133706

The goal of this oral health report, which was written after conducting in-depth interviews with oral health leaders throughout the nation, is to assist oral health professionals in determining how to better serve publicly insured and uninsured in California and nationwide. Low reimbursement rates for Medicaid dental services often become an obstacle to improving the oral health of low-income patients. Although the environment is challenging, some dental clinics have found methods to not only cope with Medicaid limitations, but even to increase their payment revenues and expand their capacity to treat low-income patients. These clinics have developed best practices that allow them to streamline operations and boost productivity.

"While the environments of care and reimbursement rates for safety net dental programs may vary from state to state, clinics across the country are facing many of the same obstacles when it comes to providing oral health to underserved populations," said Mark Doherty, Director of Safety Net Solutions and co-author of the California Health Care Foundation report. "This report provides a series of enhancements for safety net practices that will allow then to overcome many of these common obstacles, minimizing their negative impact on safety net dental practices."

This report, conceptualized and funded by the California Health Care Foundation as part of their work in oral health, outlines the necessary techniques and tools to help safety net dental practices become efficient and effective. These tools include: the fundamentals of creating a sound strategic plan: paying special attention to the reimbursement process and payer mix; achieving a smooth patient flow; designing an optimal staffing pattern; the importance of effective business systems; and implementing new technologies and clinical programs.

THE INSTITUTE LAUNCHES NATIONAL PROGRAM TO EXPAND ACCESS TO SAFETY NET ORAL HEALTH CARE

(Boston, MA) – The Institute today launched the national expansion of Safety Net Solutions, a program designed to expand access to oral health care by providing technical assistance to dental safety net providers. The Safety Net Solutions program seeks to transform the hundreds of struggling oral health programs at community health centers and clinics into financially viable programs so that they are not only preserved as a resource, but also have the ability to expand.

“Safety Net Solutions’ focus is a critically needed resource for providing dental care to underserved populations,” said Mark Doherty, Project Director. “These safety net dental programs are essential to meeting the oral health needs of the uninsured and those on Medicaid. In today's challenging reimbursement environment, most safety net dental programs struggle to achieve sustainability. There is no question that safety net dental programs provide high-quality clinical care to our nation's most vulnerable residents. However, without a strong balance between mission-focused care and strong business practices, the sustainability of safety net dental practices is in jeopardy.”

Safety Net Solutions seeks to stabilize dental programs with a thorough audit of business and dental practice systems and operations. Safety Net Solutions provides dental programs with a range of potential strategies they can adopt to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and financial sustainability, with the ultimate goal of enabling programs to reach more patients. Doherty and his team are recruiting Expert Advisors from across the United States who will expand the scope and reach of Safety Net Solutions nationally over the next three years.

The Safety Net Solutions initiative began in New England in 2006. While the program initiators anticipated working with three to four community health centers in the first year, demand was so strong that Safety Net Solutions assisted 17 organizations in 4 New England states in the first 18 months alone. Case studies show that while many of these community health center-based oral health programs were being cut back or in danger of closing, they are now experiencing a rise in patient visits and are even expanding. Through collaboration with Safety Net Solutions, community health center dental practices develop business strategies that reduce their dependence on assistance, so they can become financially sustainable through their own operations.

“Safety Net Solutions helped us to better understand our providers, our productivity and to monitor our practice. They really gave us a tool kit,” said Lisa Levine, COO, Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, Dorchester, MA. “It really helps us maximize both revenue and patient access. Safety Net Solutions offers the kind of expertise that few centers have in-house. “

Doherty and his team are based at The Institute, 2400 Computer Drive in Westborough, Massachusetts. They have also launched a website for the program at http://www.catalyst-safetynetsolutions.org.

About the Institute:
The Institute is committed to transforming oral health by improving the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of oral health care through direct research, demonstration projects, education and training. The Institute is a member of the DSM family of oral health companies.

The Institute Releases Results of Major Assessment of Children’s Oral Health in Massachusetts

STUDY SHOWS SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES IN ORAL HEALTH OF MASS. CHILDREN

One in ten Black, Hispanic and low-income children suffer from pain in teeth and mouth

One out of ten Black, Hispanic and low-income children in the third grade are suffering from pain in their teeth and mouth, according to a report of the Institute, funded by Delta Dental of Massachusetts, which found significant disparities in the status of children’s oral healthcare among racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

More than 60 percent of third grade children from low-income families suffer from dental decay compared to 33 percent of children from higher income families, according to the study, "The Oral Health of Massachusetts’ Children”, which was conducted by the Institute. Further, 58 percent of Hispanic third graders and 51 percent of Black third graders suffer from dental decay versus 36 percent of white third grade children.

“This report provides compelling evidence that dental disease remains a serious problem for our children, and especially among minority children and children from low-income families, even though dental disease is almost entirely preventable,” according to Fay Donohue, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Massachusetts.

The report found that Black and Hispanic children and children from low-income families are much less likely to receive the treatment that they need. Black third-grade students experience nearly three times the level of untreated dental disease than white third graders, while third-grade students from low-income and Hispanic families are nearly twice as likely to have untreated dental caries as their white and higher income peers.

Further, children from low-income families are almost nine times more likely to need urgent care due to pain or infection than children from higher income families.

The study also finds that about 19,000 children, or more than one in four children, are starting school with dental disease. Early incidence of dental disease disproportionately affects minority and low-income kindergarten children; Hispanic and Black children and children from low-income families experience nearly two times the incidence of disease than white children and children from higher –income families.

“We can do better. Delta Dental is committed to eliminating the significant oral health disparities identified in this report. Our goal is to ensure that all Massachusetts residents – particularly children – have access to prevention and treatment services that can eliminate dental disease.”

“We can’t do this alone,” said Donohue. As a first step, Donohue announced that Delta Dental will convene a summit of dental and other health care providers, along with community, educational, and business leaders and political officials to develop a statewide action plan for solving the problems identified in the report.

The state has shown some overall improvement since the last oral health survey in 2003. The proportion of third grade children with dental disease has declined from 48 percent to 41 percent.

“Still, these improvements are not reaching significant parts of the population,” said Dr. B. Alex White, DDS, DrPH, Director of Analytics for the Institute. “More needs to be done and can be done to reduce disparities and the overall incidence of dental disease.”

If left untreated, the effects of dental disease can result in cavities, pain and infection and can inhibit learning, speech, and eating, leading to problems in school and poor nutrition.

Although dental disease is almost entirely preventable, the report found that still close to half of all children are not receiving dental sealants, which are the most effective treatment for preventing dental decay.

For more information, contact the Institute at 508-329-2280.