CTuB2 - Pioneering Integrated Care: How Quality Improvement Transformed Health Centers Across North Carolina

Session Description: Quality improvement (QI) is an invaluable approach that helps health centers deliver excellent care, operate efficiently, improve patient satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Using QI as a foundation, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health partnered with the North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation on a two-year pilot project with 11 health centers across North Carolina focused on value-based care transformation. Within the pilot, the health centers integrated dental and medical care, improving care for 87,000 patients enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP from July 2022 to July 2024.

The presentation will discuss how pilot participants — primarily made up of dental providers and staff — used Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach to implement value-based, integrated care. PDSA cycles and customized coaching helped participants establish telehealth for dentistry, perform risk-based care, address non-clinical factors of health, and bolster care coordination and referral processes. Presenters will highlight how the use of data, measurement, and data visualization were critical to success. For example, pilot participants utilized a series of quality measures (e.g., referrals, care coordination, chronic disease screenings) and monthly data reporting to track progress and make changes to improve care integration.

Presenters will share how integrated care practices generated interest and action from health center leadership and informed infrastructure and systems-level changes in the state. Lastly, presenters will lead an audience discussion on how lessons learned from this pilot can be applied in other health centers across the country to improve integrated care.