Oral Health Quality Improvement Resources

Tooth decay, or dental caries, is a common yet preventable chronic disease among children in the United States. Recognizing the importance of oral health, Medicaid programs are required to cover comprehensive oral health care for all beneficiaries under age 21 as part of Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services. Children and adolescents from low-income families, including those covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), are roughly twice as likely to have untreated tooth decay as their higher-income peers.

To address gaps in children’s oral health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides quality improvement (QI) technical assistance to support states in enhancing oral health care for children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP and improving delivery of preventive services and ongoing dental care. CMS provides technical assistance, develops QI resources and disseminates state examples of successful QI practices on a range of dental and oral health topics.

For more information on these materials and other QI technical assistance, please email MedicaidCHIPQI@cms.hhs.gov.

Getting Started with QI Resources

These QI resources are designed to help states design and implement their own oral health-focused QI projects:

• Oral Health: Getting Started on Quality Improvement. This video provides an overview of how Medicaid and CHIP agencies can start an oral health QI project, using the example of oral health prevention in primary care. The Model for Improvement begins with small tests of change, enabling state teams to “learn their way” toward strong programs and policies.

For more quality improvement resources, visit the learning collaborative pages:

• Promoting Children’s Preventive Dental Visits
• Advancing Oral Health Prevention in Primary Care