The
state faces a variety of dental health workforce challenges that
limit access to care for underserved populations: low-income individuals,
the uninsured, Medi-Cal recipients, racial and ethnic minorities,
the elderly, the very young, developmentally disabled persons, and
rural residents. While there are numerous factors that contribute
to the disparities in oral health status and the problem of access
to dental care, a constant and central problem is ensuring that
there are providers willing and able to care for these populations.
Existing public policies utilize a variety of strategies to address
workforce availability in underserved areas, including loan repayment
for existing providers to work in underserved communities, training
new providers in underserved settings, and recruiting students from
underserved backgrounds to enter dental school.
The Center for the Health Professions at UCSF will evaluate the
historical, current and anticipated policy approaches to recruiting
oral health care providers to underserved areas in California. We
will examine the individual program goals and successes, as well
as the combined impact of the programs on increasing access to care
in underserved communities.
We intend to look at the following questions:
- What is known about the level of unmet dental need in California
communities?
- What are the state and private programs in California that impact
the number of oral health care providers working in underserved
communities?
- What impact do the programs have in relation to existing need?
- Do the programs, policies and legislation work in tandem towards
addressing the distribution of services?
- Might existing programs be improved or better articulate with
one another?
The project will begin with a comprehensive literature review followed
by a search for information on all programs, legislation, policies,
and other efforts to increase the number of providers in underserved
areas. Following identification of programs to be studied, we will
collect specific information on each program in order to evaluate
the impact of the program’s efforts.
This study will be the first to provide a comprehensive analysis
of the various programs and policies and will enable identification
of areas of overlap, areas of consistent positive or poor results,
and opportunities for further expansion, collaboration and articulation
between programs. The results of this study will provide valuable
information to state legislators, policymakers, dental educators,
administrators, program managers, and professional associations.
A final report is expected in December 2003.
Project Staff:
Kevin Grumbach, MD, Principal Investigator
Edward O’Neil, PhD, Co-Investigator
Beth Mertz, MPA, Project Director
Gena Anderson, Research Associate
Funding:
California Program on Access to Care, California Policy Research
Center (Grant #BNN02K).National Center for Health Workforce Information
and Analysis, Bureau of the Health Professions, Health Resources
and Services Administration (Grant # 1 U79 HP 00004-010)
For more information please contact Beth Mertz at 415-502-7934 or
bmertz@thecenter.ucsf.edu.
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