Medical-Dental Integration in Minnesota: Benefits from Changes in Law and Policy

Integration of dental care with medical care is widely supported in concept. Experts in both medical and dental care suggest that increased collaboration could better serve the Triple Aim of better care and a more satisfactory patient experience at a lower cost.

Due to historically separate development of medical and dental care in the United States, reuniting the two types of care is no simple matter. While pilot projects face limitations in scope, scale, and nature, they can provide initial successes and build momentum for change across all of the domains needed. In order to make change at the systems level, changes in law and policy will be necessary.

Issue Brief: Medical-Dental Integration in Minnesota

This resource :

• Summarizes the emergence of new conceptual frameworks for medical-dental integration.
• Examines issues faced by medical-dental integration projects in Minnesota.
• Describes the need to address persistent practical and legal barriers to integration in order to promote emerging strategies to encourage deeper collaboration among dental providers and primary care provider.