Dental programs recognized

The DentaQuest Institute has recognized the dental programs at Lynn Community Health Center (Lynn, Mass.) and Community Health Connections Family Health Centers’ (Fitchburg, Mass.) as Safety Net Solutions Centers of Excellence.

To read more about DentaQuest, go to DentaQuest.

Lynn Community Health Center and Community Health Connections Family Health Centers provide a comprehensive range of health and social services to their patients in Lynn and Fitchburg, Gardner, and Leominster. These patients face financial, geographic, linguistic, or cultural barriers in access to care.

At Lynn Community Health Center, the CEO, dental directors, and the dental team worked enthusiastically with the Safety Net Solutions team during the past two years to streamline administrative practices and increase the number of patients seen in the dental department. The result has been impressive increases in access to care and financial sustainability.

The administration and dental staff at Community Health Connections Family Health Centersin Fitchburg were concerned about the financial health of the dental program when they first started working with the Safety Net Solutions team.

With tenacity, the organization’s dental leadership tackled productivity challenges and, during one-year increased visits and revenue. Today this dental office is ahead of budget projections for patients and revenue for the current fiscal year.

“Lynn Community Health Center and Community Health Connections Family Health Centers are Centers of Excellence because they have distinguished themselves through strong leadership and excellence in oral health practice management,” noted Dr. Mark Doherty, executive director of the DentaQuest Institute. “As a result, both health centers can proudly claim they have greatly improved the oral health status of their patients in an underserved area.”

For more information, visit DentaQuestinstitute.org.

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