G-2103-16883

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) is an educational organization of 2,300 pediatricians dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of children in the state. In Pennsylvania and across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted telemedicine as a viable resource and practice for providers and patients alike. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is seeking funding to explore best practices in telemedicine and to develop a scalable Oral Health Risk Assessment, Education, and Dental Referral Framework for Telemedicine (OHFT) to be implemented in pediatric visits. With 60% of PA counties being Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas, PA AAP recognizes an opportunity to improve oral health care and health literacy for children and their families through the development of this framework.

The first phase of the project will be to convene an advisory committee and virtual learning community representative of healthcare consumers, healthcare providers and telehealth experts. This initial group will be part of the inaugural OHFT focus group cohort. Throughout the remainder of the grant year, PA AAP will leverage community partners and provider groups to build out focus groups reaching around 200 stakeholders. Community partners named in the proposal include the PA Coalition for Oral Health, PA Association of Community Health Centers, and the PA Head Start Association. Overall, focus group participant selection will be governed by the Chapters Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee.

Using information from gathered in focus groups and outside research by staff, the program will compile a directory of models and examples of successful integration of oral health into telehealth from across the country and share themes with the Chapter member to garner buy-in from pediatricians and raise awareness of the potential positive oral health impacts of an OHFT.

Additional focus group cohorts, the project oversight committee and staff will identify telehealth practices with the most promise for piloting. These would be implemented and refined using the Plan-Do-Study-Act method, which Is a cyclical process that tests implementation of innovations and new practices, refines them based on evaluation and feedback, and then implements changes.

As long-term goals of the project, PA AAP hopes to disseminate OHFT findings and recommendations at national conferences and events, achieve sustainability of an OHFT by creating CPT codes for provider payment, garner support and endorsement from national public health entities like Bright Futures, advocating for private and public reimbursement, and continuing to foster a virtual learning community around an OHFT.

CareQuest Institute for Oral Health has been a partner of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 2011 and has provided $2,928,406 in funding. PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics served as the conduit organization for the PA Oral Health Collective. Since 2015, around $360,000 of our funding each year has been distributed through sub-grants.

Most of the budget is allocated for staff time (about $100,000). The remainder of the budget is associated with meeting and materials fees, along with stipends for focus group participants and consultants. This request represents 5% of the organization’s overall budget.