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APRIL 2007
(Vol. 2, Issue 3)
IMPORTANT DATES
April 23-29,
2007: Cover
the Uninsured Week
April 30 -
May 3, 2007: National
Oral Health Conference - Denver, CO
May 2, 2007:
Dental
Examining Board Meeting- Madison, WI
May 2-5,
2007: Annual
Meeting on Special Care Dentistry - Denver, CO
May 10-11,
2007: WDA
Jewel of the Great Lakes Wisconsin Dental Meeting - Green
Bay, WI
May 23-24 Wisconsin
Public Health Association Annual Meeting - Appleton,
WI
If you have
an event you would like added to this list please e-mail Matt
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WOHC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
WOHC Welcomes new Wisconsin Public Health
Dental Hygienist
The Wisconsin
Oral Health Coalition is proud to announce the arrival of Ms.
Lisa Bell, RDH, the new Wisconsin Public Health Dental
Hygienist at DHFS, who will be working closely with the
coalition and steering committee. Bell replaces
Nancy McKenney who is now the Director of Workforce
Development in DHFS. Bell comes to Wisconsin from
Illinois with over 10 years of dental hygiene
experience. Bell graduated from Parkland College Dental
Hygiene program in Champaign, IL in 1995 and worked as a
hygienist is Denver, CO for 2 years before returning to
Champaign to begin her work in public health. She was
the founder of the Central Illinois Dental Education and
Services not for profit community based program which is
dedicated to providing free dental care to low income
uninsured and underinsured children. Bell has received
numerous service awards from the State of Illinois, the
American Dental Association and most recently was named the
2005 American Dental Hygienist Association's Hygienist of the
Year.
Bell states the reason
she chose to come to Wisconsin is to pursue her passion
of providing access to quality oral health care for all who
need it. Bell said "Wisconsin is well on
its way to creating and sustaining programs that can
effectively address the disparities in oral health care across
the state." The WOHC welcomes Lisa to Wisconsin and
anticipates that she will be a champion in the oral health
care access issue for years to come.
This section of the WOHC Oral Health eBytes will
feature a dedicated member/organization of the coalition. If
you have any recommendations, please contact Matt
Crespin
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WISCONSIN
NEWS
Seal-A-Smile Funding now
available
The Wisconsin
Seal-A-Smile school-based oral health program announces
its eighth year of funding and will award grants to local
sealant programs. This year, $190,516 is available to programs
statewide which includes $108,000 from state General Purpose
Revenue (GPR) and an additional $82,516 from a U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services grant. Previous individual
program awards have ranged from $1,200-$16,000 per program.
Get
the request for proposals (RFP) or for more information, contact Matt
Crespin , oral
health project manager, at (414) 390-2193. All proposals are
due June 15.
Income Augmentation Grants
Awarded
Recently the Joint Finance Committee approved $4.4
million of federal income augmentation money to be allocated
towards increasing access to oral health care. $1.8
million of that money was available in one time competitive
grants which were recently awarded to seven programs across
the state. The following programs were awarded this one
time funding:
- Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program
- Darlington : $500,000
- Family Health Center of Marshfield : $400,487
- AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin : $349,000
- Waukesha Memorial Hospital Foundation : $331,470
- Chippewa Valley Technical College : $243,646
- Waushara County Health Department : $29,260
- Cap Services - Stevens Point : $21,637
Governor Announces Plan to
Address Oral Health Access
Governor
Jim Doyle presented a multifaceted plan for addressing oral
health care access issues at the Columbia St. Mary's Madre
Angela Dental Clinic in March. This included the recent
approval by the Governor to allow dental hygienists to become
Medicaid providers and the $4.4 million in federal income
augmentation money that was allocated towards dental
access. In addition $8.8 million has been included in
the Governor's budget to "create a new statewide system that
will expand access to dental care to children and families
across Wisconsin." This is part of the Governor's Badger
Care Plus program. Click
here to view the complete press
release.
Two Cents for Tooth
Cents
The Wisconsin Dental Association
(WDA) presented it's "Two Cents for Tooth Cents" proposal at
the most recent WOHC Oral Health Forum in September of
2006. Since then Senate Bill 117 has been
introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature by
Senator Mark Miller. A companion bill is being
introduced in the assembly by Represenatives Bies and
Zepnick with support from Representatives Albers, Benedict,
Berceau, Black, Grigsby, Hebl, Molepske, A. Ott, Pocan,
Sheridan, Sherman, Soleski, Townsend, Turner, A. Williams, and
Young. Senate
Bill 117 has been referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Services. The bill would place a 2 cent
user fee on every twelve ounces of soda and would generate the
needed $20-30 million to increase MA
reimbursement rates to the 75th percentile.
According to the WDA's recent member survey, 80 percent
of their respondents (48 percent) would increase the number of
new MA patients seen every month if the rates were increased
to this level.
The Wisconsin Oral Health Coalition is
on record supporting this bill and encourages you to contact
your state representatives and senators and voice your
support individually and as member of the Coalition. For
more information please contact the WDA which can provide you
with informational material for contacting your
legislator.
Medicaid
Update
In the last month there have been two
Medicaid Updates that may be of interest to those who are
billing MA for prevention services including MA certified
dental hygienists. Click on the following links to read
these important updates.
- MA
Update No. 2007-30 (March 2007) addresses the
changes in the CDT codes for fluoride application.
There is now a separate code for billing the application of
fluoride varnish for moderate to high risk caries
patients.
- MA
Update No. 2007-33 (March 2007) addresses the
changes in MA certification requirements and the expansion
of billable services for dental hygienists. There
is also information about prior authorization for these
expanded services.
Any provider questions can be
directed to Provider Services at (800) 947-9627 or (608)
221-9883 and then pressing "6" for a dental
correspondent.
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NATIONAL
NEWS
Improving
Access to Dental Care
Kathy Roth, president of the
American Dental Association spoke with ABC News about the lack
of access children have to dental care and the need to address
the problem. Click here to watch
this interview.
Cover the Uninsured
Week
This nationwide effort is focused on promoting
the importance of children's health coverage and to
demonstrate support for the reauthorization of the State
Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP). Wisconsin has
more than 85,000 uninsured children and more than 530,000
uninsured residents. Click
here to find out what is happening in Wisconsin
during this week long
event.
2007 National Oral Health
Conference (NOHC)
The
National Oral Health Conference (NOHC), a joint meeting
of the American Association of State and Territorial Dental
Directors (ASTDD) and the American Association of Public
Health Dentistry (AAPHD) will be held at
the Marriott Denver Tech Center April 30 - May 2,
2007. View
the registration brochure and conference information.
In addition, the
19th Annual Meeting on Special Care Dentistry will be
held at the same location from May 2 - May 5,
2007. Information on this conference is also available
at the link listed above.
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FYI
Healthy
Soda?
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are
introducing what they call vitamin-enriched soft drinks and
promoting them as sparkling beverages rather than regular
soda which is shown to be the cause of many tooth decay
problems. Tava (PepsiCo.) and Diet Coke Plus (Coca-Cola)
contain vitamin B3, B6, B12, E, chromium, magnesium, and zinc
and are scheduled to hit the shelves this spring. To
read more about this click
here.
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