Facilitating Care for Individuals With Complex Medical and Social Needs Through the Nurse Practitioner-Dentist Integrated Practice Model

Abstract

Aims: Individuals with complex medical and social needs often face barriers to health care, leading to poor health outcomes. The Nurse Practitioner-Dentist Integrated Practice Model (NPD Model) integrates a nurse practitioner (NP) within the dental team to enhance chronic disease management, improve access to care, and support interdisciplinary collaboration. This study evaluates a dental school pilot program's clinical and financial impact. Results: We first examine a case study illustrating the NPD Model's positive impacts on a patient with diabetes and periodontal disease. We also analyze data from patient primary care visits between September 2023 and April 2024 to understand patient demographics, patterns of primary care utilization, clinical outcomes, and financial sustainability. Our results support our hypothesis that the NPD Model facilitates comprehensive, person-centered health care by an interdisciplinary provider team and is especially impactful for individuals with complex medical and social needs; it is also economically feasible in an academic dental setting. Conclusion: The NPD Model enhances patient-centered care for medically complex individuals by integrating medical and dental services. The NPD Model holds significant potential to be extrapolated to other dental and medical settings, including hospital-based primary care clinics and emergency rooms.