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Project Zero – Women & Infants (PZWI)
Project overview
Project Zero – Women and Infants’ (PZWI) mission is to expand opportunities for access to direct oral health services; increase delivery of best practices for oral healthcare; and enhance statewide data sources.
PZWI goals
- Provide support and assistance to Federally funded Community Health Centers (CHC) as they plan, implement and assess integration of oral into their maternal/child care
- Deliver education on best practices in oral healthcare delivery and referral for maternal/child healthcare providers and staff at the CHC,
- Establish an efficient statewide data collection network that integrates with current Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
PZWI is supported by the Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement Initiative
Purpose
The goal of the Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement (PIOHQI) initiative is to reduce the prevalence of oral disease in pregnant women and infants through improved access to high-quality oral health care (i.e., preventive services, restorative treatment, education). The expected outcomes of the initiative, which targets pregnant women and infants at high risk for oral disease, are increased utilization of oral health services and improved oral health. There were three phases of awards in the program: pilot, expansion, and expansion II.
The sixteen projects are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Funding for the three pilot projects continues through 2018 and for the thirteen expansion projects continues through 2019.
At the end of the funding period, projects will have defined and implemented evidence-informed models used to successfully integrate high-quality oral health care into perinatal and infant primary-care-delivery systems with statewide reach. These state models will
- Increase pregnant women’s utilization of preventive oral health care.
- Increase the percentage of children who have dental homes by age 1.
- Reduce the prevalence of oral disease in pregnant women and infants, ultimately reducing dental caries throughout early childhood.
- Reduce oral health care expenditures.
The PIOHQI projects participate in a learning collaborative coordinated by the Center for Oral Health Integration and Improvement (COHSII), a cooperative agreement awarded to the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center. COHSII PIOHQI activities are led by OHRC and the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors with assistance from FrameShift Group.
For the PIOHQI projects, COHSII is a technical assistance provider.
***Note: PZWI funding has come to an end as of 12/30/2019. Please contact denise.helm@nau.edu for questions