The oral health workforce is critical to ensuring comprehensive care for Medicaid populations, yet significant challenges persist in expanding and optimizing this workforce. The number of Medicaid providers currently participating in this workforce is insufficient to meet community needs, resulting in critical access issues for individuals served by Medicaid.

Recognizing the need to strengthen the oral health workforce serving Medicaid populations, the Center for Health Care Strategies is launching the Medicaid Oral Health Workforce Implementation Learning Series with support from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. This learning series will provide a forum for key decision-makers in Medicaid agencies and their partners — including peer state agencies, health plans, schools, and community and provider organizations — who are interested in or actively engaged in strengthening the Medicaid oral health workforce. Participants will identify priorities and design policy strategies for enhancing oral health workforce capacity in their state.  Focus areas include, for example:

• Expanding the oral health workforce by empowering providers to work at the top of their license;
• Increasing awareness of Medicaid among dental providers;
• Improving the program’s coverage, benefits, and operations for providers and the communities served;
• Encouraging strategic collaboration and coordination of oral health priorities across a broad coalition of stakeholders to tackle related workforce issues; and
• Building a pipeline of engaged providers through creative solutions.

The learning series draws on earlier work by CHCS to identify workforce levers for improving access to essential oral health services for Medicaid members.