Delta Dental of Tennessee Honors Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey | national company
NASHVILLE, TN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 26, 2022–
Delta Dental of Tennessee (Delta Dental) and its charitable arm, the Smile180 Foundation, presented outgoing Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey with her third Smile Power Award. The award, which celebrates someone who has had a significant positive impact on the oral health of Tennesseans, was presented to Dr. Piercey in recognition of his stewardship of the state’s new 5-year, $94 million pilot program to expand access to dental care. known as the Healthy Smiles Initiative . Click here to watch a video of the award ceremony.
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“Too often people treat oral health as a separate issue, and I have to remind them that your mouth is connected to the rest of your body,” said Dr. Phil Wenk, CEO of Delta Dental. “But Commissioner Piercey understood early on the importance and urgency of solving our dental crisis in Tennessee and was instrumental in the development and eventual approval of the Healthy Smiles initiative. Generations of Tennesseans will benefit from his leadership, and I cannot think of a better or more deserving recipient of this award.
At the request of Governor Bill Lee, Commissioner Piercey brought together a group of dental industry stakeholders from across the state in early 2021 to develop recommendations aimed at increasing access to high-quality dental care and affordable for Tennesseans. The task force, which included dentists, dental hygienists, the state’s two dental schools, TennCare, the Department of Health, payers, safety net clinics and others, set out to d agreed on a comprehensive set of proposals that became the Healthy Smiles initiative.
Key components of the Healthy Smiles initiative are increased class sizes in dental schools, new and strengthened workforce recruitment and retention efforts, and increased safety net funding. Two existing and proven safety net programs will receive a significant boost: the Smile On 65+ program, which provides oral health care and case management services for seniors, and the Grants program in prosthodontics, which has so far helped provide more than 2,300 Tennesseans seen in safety net clinics with low-cost or no-cost dentures. One of those Tennesseans is Samantha, a 33-year-old single mother of three from Paris, Tennessee, who received life-saving treatment at the Interfaith Dental Clinic.
“Everything we do at the Department of Health relates to our mission statement – to protect, promote and enhance the health and prosperity of the people of Tennessee,” said Dr. Piercey. “The Healthy Smiles initiative ticks all of those boxes – even and especially prosperity – because if you don’t have a healthy smile, you may struggle to find and keep a job, certainly one that matches your skills and abilities.”
“Many people don’t realize how access to dental care also impacts another critical issue in Tennessee: the sustainability of rural hospitals,” Piercey added. “Without a dentist nearby, you end up with more people in the emergency room with problems that could and should have been solved by a dentist. And while the hospital should — and want — to take care of everyone who goes into the emergency room, they are reimbursed very little, if anything, for those services.
Prior to his appointment by Governor Lee in January 2019, Dr. Piercey, a board-certified pediatrician, spent a decade working in health systems operations, most recently with West Tennessee Healthcare, a public nonprofit health system. with over 7,000 employees serving 22 counties. She continued to see patients in her pediatric practice in Jackson, Tennessee, once a week throughout her service as commissioner.
Piercey is the third recipient of the Smile Power Award. The late State Representative Charles Sargent, a champion of oral health issues, including the denture grant program, received the first Smile Power Award in 2018. Former Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak was honored in 2019 for his work supporting the creation of Dental Dental’s Smile180 Foundation.
The Smile180 Foundation has donated more than $21.5 million to Tennessee dental schools, children’s hospitals, free and reduced-cost dental clinics, and other like-minded charities since its inception in 2015. .
To learn more about Delta Dental’s philanthropic work across Tennessee, visit the Smile180 Foundation website.
Tennessee Dental Delta
Delta Dental of Tennessee is the state’s largest independent dental insurer with nearly 1.4 million lives covered. As part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, members of Delta Dental of Tennessee have access to the nation’s largest dental network with more than 154,000 providers serving more than 437,000 locations. With the simple mission of ensuring healthy smiles, Delta Dental of Tennessee works hard to help members of the communities it serves. Along with its corporate foundation, Smile180, Delta Dental of Tennessee has donated more than $5.4 million in funding and in-kind services to more than 130 organizations in 2021.
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CONTACT: Ann Waller Curtis
KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA TENNESSEE
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: WOMEN ELDERLY MEN STATE/LOCAL INSURANCE FAMILY CONSUMER HOSPITALS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOUNDATION DENTAL PHILANTHROPY PUBLIC POLICY/GOVERNMENT HEALTH OTHER EDUCATION HEALTH REFORM CONTINUING EDUCATION EDUCATION
SOURCE: Delta Dental of Tennessee
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PUBLISHED: 05/26/2022 17:38 / DISK: 05/26/2022 17:38