June 28, 2023
In early 2022, 700 Afghan refugees arrived in central Iowa, trying to settle into a community unlike any they’d ever seen. A strange landscape. A sea of unfamiliar faces. A new life.
And they had 90 days to get settled.
This report evaluates the impact of a learning community comprising 14 safety-net dental practices across North Carolina with a goal to transform oral health for the 47 counties and 87,000 patients they serve. The initiative was a partnership between the North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, and CareQuest Institute.
Noteworthy results from the community include:
June 4, 2025
By Renee Clark, Care Coordinator & Interoperability Manager
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have made it clear that patients must be at the center of our digital ecosystem and are asking one critical question:
How should federal policy evolve to support more connected, patient-centered care?
May 20, 2025
Early in her career as a dental assistant, Mary Lynne Davis, CRDH, had the privilege of working with a dentist who was deeply committed to creating a comfortable, caring experience for every patient. His passion left a lasting impression on her, shaping the way she approached patient care throughout her career as an assistant, a hygienist, a mentor, and now a research coordinator.
This comprehensive white paper and collection of use cases, co-authored by CareQuest Institute and 19 academic institutions, explore interprofessional education (IPE) in health care, with a particular focus on oral health. The authors find that IPE is essential to foster collaborative, patient-centered health care, writing:
December 17, 2024
By Renee Clark, Care Coordinator & Interoperability Manager, CareQuest Institute
In this article in The Journal of the American Dental Association, CareQuest Institute researchers found that overall health care costs were reduced in both Medicaid patients (14% less) and commercially insured patients (12% less) with diabetes who had received periodontal treatment within the previous two years.
May 14, 2024
By Renee Clark, Care Coordination & Interoperability Manager at CareQuest Institute
Welcome to the first installment in our blog series about transforming oral health!
March 22, 2024
By Andrea Clark, MS, Director, Health Care Economics, and Renee Clark, Care Coordination & Interoperability Manager
The health care system in the United States is unique in many often-cited ways. It does not provide universal coverage, mixes publicly and privately funded insurances, and spends more on care per person than any other wealthy country.
This report from CareQuest Institute provides a comprehensive overview of the bidirectional nature of oral and systemic diseases across different life phases and discusses how medical-dental integration (MDI) can improve access to care, health outcomes, and health care costs.