Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of preventable illness in the U.S. As of January 1, 2018, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) began reimbursing participating dentists for providing tobacco cessation services to their patients. Several studies support the effectiveness of training dentists to provide appropriate counseling, cessation and referral services.
The MEDTAPP Dental Provider Training on Tobacco Cessation Counseling Project is led by The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in collaboration with the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine. Experts in dentistry and tobacco cessation will be engaged to develop and deliver training for Ohio Medicaid serving dental professionals on the provision of appropriate tobacco cessation counseling and referral services to Medicaid beneficiaries using different forms of tobacco. Through the activities of this initiative, licensed dental professionals will be trained to recognize the opportunity and appropriately offer counseling services and referral for additional tobacco cessation support. In addition, the project team will work with select high volume Medicaid dental sites to assist them in developing the work processes and work flow to effectively engage in tobacco cessation counseling and referral support. The final deliverables created as a result of this project will include:
- Final resource guide
- Office and patient support materials
- Online training modules
- Pilot evaluation data
- Functioning website
