Reference no: EM132226220
Case Study: Mobile Dental Services
St. Mary’s Medical Center is a tertiary-care hospital located in Evansville, Indiana. For several years, the hospital has coordinated a novel outreach program—Mobile Dental Care for Kids—which provides full-service dental care for children who would otherwise have little or no access to dentists This program reports over 3000 patient contacts in 2010, primarily from elementary age children at the rotating school sites.
St. Mary’s is an acute care medical center that does not provide any other dental services. Why have they chosen to coordinate an outreach program in a field in which they have little expertise? The steps below provide a pathway toward the implementation of this successful initiative.
Identification of the problem:
• An existing partnership with area schools and school nurses identified a problem that could not be readily solved given limited school-district resources. Low-income elementary school children would come to school with acute tooth pain, unable to be cured by the school nurse. The lack of dental care often allowed these acute problems to become chronic, and students in constant pain were unable to study and learn effectively.
• Many of the affected children were eligible for Indiana Medicaid dental services. Research showed that few dentists in the area accepted Medicaid patients because
– Medicaid reimbursement rates were significantly lower than private insurance reimbursement rates.
– Transportation and accessibility challenges for Medicaid patients resulted in a high incidence of patient late arrivals and no-shows, costing dental practices vital revenue.
Resources available in the community:
• St. Mary’s, the local acute care medical center, offered to help and worked with leaders in the schools to coordinate resources.
• School nurses and support staff worked with parents to:
– Ensure eligible students were registered for Medicaid dental services.
– Obtain the necessary consents for treatment.
– Schedule students for exams during the school day to make the best use of the dental unit and staff.
• Area civic organizations and churches offered to help families with care logistics when school was not in session.
• A mobile dental service van was outfitted and launched to improve accessibility of dental care.
• Area dentists agreed to work shifts to provide care when the mobile unit’s full-time dentist was unavailable.
The success of this program is due to the effective partnership among St. Mary’s and the other partner organizations. Together, the collaborators identified a problem (health concern), researched the causative factors, and developed creative strategies to address these factors. Each partner contributed different resources to the initiative, allowing the development of a successful solution to address this challenge.
Case Study Discussion Questions
1. What information and personnel resources are available to St. Mary’s Medical Center to aid in planning and development of this outreach program?
2. Ongoing partnerships were developed with key stakeholders in the community. How can the leadership at the Medical Center sustain these partnerships with the school personnel, area dentists, and the multiple civic organizations?
3. What other benefits does St. Mary’s Medical Center gain from this outreach endeavor? Are there financial, marketing, or promotional benefits that can accrue to the Medical Center?
In addition to covering the three case questions, you will need to address two more questions in your paper:
1. Briefly describe another health care institution community outreach project that you found through research or are familiar with.
2. What skills are necessary for leaders in competing organizations to be able to work together and share resources to benefit the health of the community?