The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) developed a numerical scope of practice index for the dental hygiene profession called the Dental Hygiene Professional Practice Index (DHPPI) under a contract with the the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Because the variables in the original DHPPI, which was constructed in 2001 and rescored in 2014, no longer reflected the full scope of dental hygiene practice in states, a new DHPPI was developed to better reflect current practice for the profession.

This report describes the process of redesigning the DHPPI and provides the scores for each state on the new index.