G-2210-17649

The Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin is a convening and policy organization that brings people together to impact systems and improve access to care. They work on national and statewide health public health priorities and have programs reaching children and families in every county within Wisconsin. CareQuest Institute's direct historical funding of Children's Health Alliance has included stipends for OPEN leadership; however, the organization was also provided sub-grant funding through the Midwest Collaborative from 2014-2019 (fiscal sponsor Michigan Oral Health Coalition).

Over the past several years, Children’s Health Alliance has led a Wisconsin Medical-Dental Integration (WI-MDI) effort in collaboration with the Medical College of Wisconsin and led by an Advisory Group. This group has supported the implementation of 13 integrated dental hygienists into pediatric primary care and prenatal teams across 5 FQHCs, two large health centers and 1 nonprofit clinic in Wisconsin. Stakeholders involved in this initiative have historically been clinicians and "grasstops" organizations looking to advance MDI.

Children’s Health Alliance and partners have recognized the critical lack of patient perspective, input and experience in its own organization and planning within the WI-MDI initiative. This proposal specifically seeks funds to implement sustainable touchpoints with community members within the WI-MDI initiative, ultimately driving toward input, influence and community ownership of MDI systems-change activities. This work has already started, as Children's Health Alliance incorporated the guidance of eight community members in the development of this proposal. Once the project is approved, Children's Health Alliance will engage in semi-structured interviews with patients and their families at WI-MDI clinics to develop an understanding of the patient and family experience and perceptions of MDI systems. Children's Health Alliance will also build awareness on the need for community voice within the current MDI system. This will occur through education and examination of current mental models, asset maps, and discussions of power around community voice. This process will take place among WI-MDI Advisory Council members and the Integrated Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH) Peer Learning group. An action plan will be collaboratively developed with each group to advance on CareQuest Institute's Community Engagement Continuum, and community members and key stakeholders whose voices are identified as currently missing will be invited to participate and move towards collaboration, via an invitation to join the WI-MDI Advisory Council – a council which influences decisions, future priorities, and strategies.

At the same time, Children’s Health Alliance and partners will explore barriers to MDI to billing and workflows within their partner clinics, develop more thorough internal knowledge around CCDT codes, commercial vs. Medicaid coverage, and differences in billing by provider type, and develop an action plan to minimize these barriers.

The budget for this request is $124,991, representing 3% of the organization's overall budget. Funding will be used for: community member compensation for participation; qualitative data collection (participant incentives, recorders, transcription); project staff salary support; and stipends for clinics who engage patient experience feedback.