Insurance Company and Dental Industry Team up to Reduce Pneumonia Risk in Surgery Patients

Nonventilator health care-associated pneumonia (NV-HAP)—when patients receive treatment in a health-care setting and develop pneumonia unrelated to their treatment and without the presence of a ventilator—is a significant issue that negatively impacts patient outcomes and swells hospital costs.

One of the most effective ways to prevent NV-HAP is to ensure that patients maintain their oral health, as the microflora in the oral cavity often change—increasing in virulent Gram-negative organisms—once patients en­ter the hospital. Patients are also at increased risk of microaspiration and their immune systems are weakened. Unfortunately, there are many barriers to ensuring hospital patients receive oral hygiene care, including nursing and staff who are not trained in oral care, lack of oral hygiene aids, and an absence of guidelines/recommendations on oral care practices in hospital settings.

In order to address some of these barriers, the insurance provider Aetna has partnered with companies that manufacture oral health products to provide patients undergoing hospital-based surgeries with oral health care kits. Each kit contains a bottle of Listerine mouthrinse from Johnson & Johnson, toothpaste from Colgate-Palmolive, toothbrush, and toothbrush shield, and comes in a clear plastic bag.

Aetna estimates that more than 35,000 kits have been distributed over the past year, and data are being collected on the program’s effectiveness. If results show the rate of NV-HAP declined among patients who received the kits, Aetna will expand the program. Patients undergoing treatment for cancer—who must receive a dental exam before the initiation of therapy—are the next population identified as potentially benefiting from the program.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. December 2019;17(11):13.