Uncategorized

Published on

Pew Trusts

A strong research base finds that dental sealants are highly effective in preventing tooth decay. Sealants can reduce the risk of decay in permanent molars—the teeth most prone to cavities—by 80 percent in the first two years after application and continue to be effective after more than four years.

Yet most low-income children—who are least likely to receive routine dental care—lack sealants. According to the most recent data, 61 percent of low-income 6- to 11-year-olds (6.5 million) lacked sealants.2 A recent study found that if all 6.5 million low-income children who lacked sealants were to receive them, it would prevent 3.4 million cavities over four years.3 With this strong evidence of sealants’ effectiveness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, the American Association of Public Health Dentistry, and numerous other health organizations recommend sealant programs in schools, especially as an optimal location to provide low-income children with preventive care.4 Yet a 2015 Pew report found that such programs are in fewer than half of high-need schools in 39 states…

…State practice acts might include requirements that dentists examine children before a hygienist can seal their teeth in school, that dentists be present while a hygienist performs this service, or that private dentists cannot employ hygienists working in schools. They may also include rules that set very low limits on the numbers of school-based hygienists that any one dentist can supervise. In describing dental hygiene scope of practice rules, a 2016 report from the national Oral Health Workforce Research Center stated, “State-based regulatory constraints for dental hygienists may impede access to care as much as the economic and logistical barriers that are known to prevent some patients from obtaining oral health services.”5 In more recent research, the center found that a “more autonomous dental hygienist scope of practice had a positive and significant association with population oral health in both 2001 and 2014.”

Read Full Article

Published on

ASPPH

The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany School of Public Health recently announced the release of the New York State Health Workforce Planning Data Guide. The new website is an interactive, user-friendly tool that applies visualization techniques to data on health care in New York, including its workforce.

The data guide allows for comparisons by region or by county, and illustrates changes over time.

Read Full Article

Published on

The Times Telegram

The Bassett Healthcare Network is cutting through distance and backed-up appointment books to get quick care for children who need mental health treatment…

…Bassett is likely part of a trend toward both telemedicine and telepsychiatry in particular, said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

“I think there is increasing interest in the use of telehealth for psychiatry services because it’s just so difficult to attract psychiatrists to many parts of the state,” she said.

And child psychiatrists are the rarest of mental-health providers in rural areas, she said. Bennett, for example, is the only full-time child psychiatrist accepting Medicaid patients in Otsego County, and some counties don’t have any.

The value of telemedicine is not limited to psychiatry, though, as other fields struggle to make better use of the workforce, Moore said. She mentioned as examples another Bassett telemedicine program that monitors high-risk patients in their homes, a teledentistry program that does a lot of the prep work before an in-person visit, and a program through which pediatricians can assess children in day care.

Read Full Article

Published on

Utica Observer-Dispatch

The Bassett Healthcare Network is cutting through distance and backed-up appointment books to get quick care for children who need mental health treatment…

…Bassett is likely part of a trend toward both telemedicine and telepsychiatry in particular, said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

“I think there is increasing interest in the use of telehealth for psychiatry services because it’s just so difficult to attract psychiatrists to many parts of the state,” she said.

And child psychiatrists are the rarest of mental-health providers in rural areas, she said. Bennett, for example, is the only full-time child psychiatrist accepting Medicaid patients in Otsego County, and some counties don’t have any.

The value of telemedicine is not limited to psychiatry, though, as other fields struggle to make better use of the workforce, Moore said. She mentioned as examples another Bassett telemedicine program that monitors high-risk patients in their homes, a teledentistry program that does a lot of the prep work before an in-person visit, and a program through which pediatricians can assess children in day care.

Read Full Article

Published on

University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Medical school is a daunting financial proposition for anyone, but for those from underrepresented groups it can be a deal-breaker.

That financial barrier is one of the major factors leading to the lack of physicians from underrepresented groups. Even in a diverse state like New York, where African-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos comprise more than 30 percent of the population, they make up only 12 percent of the physician workforce, according to data from the State University of New York Albany Center for Health Workforce Studies.

Read Full Article

Published on

Portland Press Herald

…A decade ago, it would have been impossible for Fichthorne to offer her services without the supervision of a dentist. But in 2008, Maine passed a law allowing hygienists who have obtained a special type of license to work independently.

Since then, the number of licensed, independent practice dental hygienists, or IPDHs, in Maine has inched upward. In 2012, there were at least 37 in the state – compared with 1,196 hygienists who had a traditional license requiring them to work under the supervision of a dentist – according to a report by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany State University of New York.

Read Full Article

Published on

Crain’s New York Business

This week’s Pulse Extra focuses on diversity among health professionals in New York state. The Center for Health Workforce Studies at SUNY Albany recently published a report examining the race and ethnicity of doctors, dentists, and nurses from 2011 to 2015, compared to the previous five-year period. A diverse workforce “assures the adequacy of health workforce supply while addressing concerns about social justice,” the Center wrote. The diversity will also help hospitals and clinics provide culturally competent care. Below, we look at demographic trends among physicians and nurses.

Read Full Article

Published on

Watchdog.org

Discounting the governor and the state flag, there isn’t much that the secluded backwoods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have in common with the urban streets of Detroit. One thing they do have in common: not enough dentists. In all but seven of Michigan’s 83 counties, there is at least one area experiencing a shortage of dental professionals. It’s a truly statewide problem, one that affects a disproportionate number of children and low-income households.

Read Full Article

Published on

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

The proposed changes to Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion include the elimination of dental coverage from the package of benefits for adults. Reducing access to dental care would likely lead to other, more serious health problems and cost the state more in overall Medicaid spending through greater use of emergency room services. Dental care makes up a small portion of the overall budget, but is a very efficient preventative medical service that is critical in Kentucky given our poor oral health.

Read Full Article

Published on

Albany Times Union

The University of Albany’s School of Public Health conducts periodic reports on the health care workforce. And while it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the job market is good for newly minted physicians, there are what could be seen as a couple of surprises tucked into the study.

Read Full Article