Medi-Cal Archives : CitizenNewsWire http://citizennewswire.com/tag/medi-cal/ Reports from the globe Sat, 22 Aug 2020 22:16:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.4 https://i0.wp.com/citizennewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-cnw3-e1597538475492.png?fit=32%2C32 Medi-Cal Archives : CitizenNewsWire http://citizennewswire.com/tag/medi-cal/ 32 32 182810965 Oral Health Program for Kids Needs Your Help http://citizennewswire.com/2020/08/22/oral-health-program-for-kids-needs-your-help/ Sat, 22 Aug 2020 22:13:32 +0000 http://citizennewswire.com/?p=994 While almost no one likes to go to the dentist, as adults, most understand the

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]]> While almost no one likes to go to the dentist, as adults, most understand the need for good preventative oral health care. Preventing cavities can be made fairly easy for most people with good oral hygiene including dental cleaning and exams twice a year.

However, for many, especially children in families with lower income and little or no health insurance, this can be a challenge. Even for those with access, participation is still surprisingly low.

dentist visit
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

According to the latest data from California’s Department of Health Services (DHCS), only roughly half of the more than 4 million kids who currently have access to dental its Medi-Cal program went to the dentist at least once a year.

A critical part of one of the state’s programs aimed at providing aid to this problem is currently in danger of ending. They are called Local Dental Pilot Projects (LDPPs).

The LDPPs are part of the Dental Transformation Initiative which was created under the Medi-Cal 2020 1115 Waiver.

The pilot programs were designed to help spur better dental care for the at-risk children by better educating and communicating with the community about the availability of the services, and their importance.

Coordinators in these pilots work with families in the communities to help build trust and relationships between the families and the dentists. Overcoming a cultural and language barrier is often one of the big hurdles.

Because some families have difficulty bringing the children to the dentist, under the program, the coordinators have brought the dentists and their services to schools and food banks and other areas to make the access easier.

Since its inception, the LDPPs have helped close to half a million children get the dental care that they need.

The current issue is that the pilot projects were implemented with an end date in the legislation. So now unless something is done to change it, the program will go away at the end of this year.

Organizers are asking the public for help to save these important programs. They ask that anyone who agrees that continuing the LDPPs is important, please email 1115waiver@dhcs.ca.gov to show their support – or signing this online letter via SurveyMonkey by going to : https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K5LQDR8 .

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