In response to these troubling trends, between January 2013 and April 2014, with facilitation from the Florida Public Health Institute, the Oral Health Florida Leadership Council developed a results-based strategic plan using the evidence-based Results-Based Accountability™ (RBA) framework, a highly disciplined process developed by Mark Friedman and introduced in his book, Trying Hard is Not Good Enough. This model has been used internationally to help groups move from talk to action in order to achieve measurable results.
This plan, Florida’s Roadmap for Oral Health, supports the achievement of the result: “All people in Florida have optimal oral health and well-being” by addressing two areas of focus:
- Improved access and utilization of quality oral health care
- Increased access to community water fluoridation
Headline indicators that will be used to measure success in these areas include:
- Percentage of Medicaid/SCHIP eligible children receiving any dental services
- Total emergency room costs and number of visits due to preventable oral health conditions
- Percentage of Florida schools with school-based sealant programs
- Total eligible receiving a sealant on permanent molar tooth
- Percentage of population on community water systems receiving fluoridated water
Florida’s Roadmap for Oral Health takes into consideration existing Florida oral health plans and initiatives. A living document, it will serve as a blueprint for action by Oral Health Florida over the next three to five years.