An evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Hospital-Sponsored Ambulatory Dental Services Program

This article summarizes the results of an evaluation of the Hospital-Sponsored Ambulatory Dental Services Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Goals of the program were to increase service to the underserved both in the volume of persons treated and in continuity of care, while supporting expanded dental general-practice residency training and aiding financial viability of the dental departments. The principal findings were that, while the volume of new patients increased, the number of disadvantaged persons did not. Continuity of care may have worsened. Policy implications are that hospital dental departments should improve their efficiency and narrow their goals to the special populations best treated in their environment. Innovative financial mechanisms should be explored, including combining with medical care hospital-based HMOs. However, the goals cannot be reached without expanded and continuing governmental subsidy.