Goal: A Maine that doesn't rely on a dental "safety net," where every person has access to the right care at the right place at the right time.
The Maine Oral Health Funders (MOHF), an affinity group of funders that first convened over 15 years ago, are part of an initiative to promote strategic systemic changes focused on improved oral health care access and quality for all people in Maine. The Network is joining forces with the MOHF on this critical initiative. In 2020 during the onset of the pandemic, the MOHF saw an immediate need to stabilize Maine’s non-profit dental centers, as well as long-term sustainability issues driving the broader system’s struggle to provide access and quality of care for all Maine residents. The MOHF have developed a three-year plan for the initiative working toward the following goals:
- Sustain, immediately and long-term, Maine’s non-profit dental centers.
- Grow the dental workforce to increase the system’s capacity, especially the number of providers that provide care for patients with MaineCare.
- Support provider and patient readiness for and the implementation of the MaineCare adult dental benefits taking place in July 2022.
- Ensure the oral health system is financially sustainable to achieve greater access to quality of oral health care for all people in Maine.
Among other efforts, the initiative has launched the Maine Oral Health Centers Alliance which includes the five large non-profit dental centers in Maine. Goals of the Alliance are to build financial and care capacity, as well as to strengthen data systems, and to test innovative models for expanding delivery of quality care and increasing community access.
For more information on this initiative, fill out our form or contact MOHF Coordinator, joyosterhout@gmail.com