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American Dental Education Association

Volume 3, No. 20, November 14, 2023
House Education and Workforce Committee Passes the DETERRENT Act

 

On Nov. 8, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee held a full Committee markup of . The bill was introduced by U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and has 25 co-sponsors all of whom are Republicans. The bill passed out of Committee by a 27 to 11 vote.

 

This bill strikes and replaces the existing Section 117, which requires biannual reports for gifts or contracts above $250,000. The new Section 117 created by the bill does the following:

  • It requires institutions to file reports annually on July 1 for gifts or contracts above $50,000.
  • The amount of information now required in the reports has also significantly increased.
  • The Department of Education will also be required to establish and maintain a searchable, public database on its website of the reports submitted.

Additionally, the bill establishes harsher punishments for violations of Section 117, including the imposition of fines, some of which can range from 5% to 10% of the total amount of federal funds received by the institution. The fines are in addition to paying for all costs associated with the investigation and enforcement of Section 117, which was previously included in the statute.

 

The bill now heads to the House floor for a vote. The bill's prospects in the Senate are uncertain.
Senate Holds Hearing on Artificial Technology and Health Care

 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security held a on policy considerations for artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. Testifying at the hearing were Dr. Keith Sale, Vice President and Chief Physician Executive of Ambulatory Services at the University of Kansas Health System; Dr. Kenneth Mandl, Director of the Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital; Dr. Thomas Inglesby, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; and Ms. Christine Huberty, Supervising Attorney for the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources.

 

Much of the testimony focused on the benefits AI had for the health sector, including cutting down clinicians’ administrative work, allowing clinicians to access and analyze data they couldn’t on their own, reducing health care costs and accelerating drug discovery.

 

But the technology may need guardrails to function safely and effectively—or AI could cause harm to patients or exacerbate existing inequities, which was a concern expressed by U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). Citing a 2020 Journal of the American Medical Association study, U.S. Rep. Lujan noted that the study found that deep learning algorithms, incorporated into certain AI platforms, were disproportionately trained using U.S. patient data from California, Massachusetts and New York with little representation from the rest of the country. The disproportionate use of the regional data calls into question whether AI will improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities for all Americans or only for those in certain parts of the country.

Dr. Monica Bertagnolli Confirmed as the NIH Director

 

On Nov. 9, the full Senate confirmed , the nation’s biomedical research agency and largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. The confirmation vote was 62 to 36. It was a bipartisan vote, with 11 Republicans and all but two members of the Democratic caucus voting in her favor.

 

Dr. Bertagnolli’s key priorities will be ensuring diversity in clinical trials in order to yield the best results, supporting new learning-based analytical tools and ensuring their use improves care for all people and restoring trust in science and inspiring the next generation of doctors and scientists. Dr. Bertagnolli is also committed to strengthening collaboration across the 27 NIH institutes and centers.

 

Dr. Bertagnolli graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and went on to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Before joining the National Cancer Institute, she specialized in treating and researching gastrointestinal cancers in her roles as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

 

She is a Past President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.

House Explanatory Statement on LHHS Appropriations Bill

 

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has released language providing details of the Labor-Health and Human Services Subcommittee bill prior to the expected floor vote later this week. Despite an overall reduction in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services of $14 billion or 12% below last fiscal year, funding for Oral Health Programs have held flat—with one glaring example: the Ryan White Part F Dental Programs. Ryan White Part F Dental Programs were not funded, even though in fiscal year (FY) 2023 it was funded at $13.6 million. The Dental Reimbursement portion of that program provided partial reimbursement for 48 dental schools for the uncompensated care for treating persons living with HIV/AIDS.

 

ADEA is communicating to House members the need to continue funding minimally at the current level of $13.6 million. The Senate bill provided that funding level for its version of the bill for FY 2024. Should the House pass its bill at the Committee level, the difference would have to be worked out with the Senate before a final version is presented to President Biden for his signature.

Anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Battle Rages in Wisconsin

 

On Nov. 7, the Wisconsin State Assembly that if enacted would alter several financial aid programs that are currently open to minority students, as well as requirements for minority enrollment at the state’s dental and medical programs. (State law defines a “minority student” as a student who is a Black American, an American Indian or Alaskan native, a Hispanic, a person of Asian or Pacific Island origin or a person whose ancestry includes two or more races.) If implemented, the bill would make the following policy changes:

  • Current law requires at least the Marquette University School of Dentistry and the Medical College of Wisconsin to make every effort to ensure that at least 5% of its total enrollment consists of minority students. This would repeal those requirements for both programs.
  • Additionally, the state has created multiple financial aid programs that currently are only open to minority students. If passed, the bill would alter eligibility for those programs to make disadvantaged students eligible rather than minority students.
  • Finally, current law also requires the University of Wisconsin (UW) System and Technical College System Board to develop programs for minority and disadvantaged students, as well as programs to recruit and retain minority and disadvantaged students. The bill would modify those requirements so they no longer apply to minority students, and they would only apply to disadvantaged students.

The legislation has been sent to the Wisconsin Senate for consideration. If the bill passes the Senate, it will almost certainly be vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers (D). Republicans, however, are close to having a veto-proof majority and would only need to get two Democrats in the Assembly to vote to override a veto.

 

Even if a veto is sustained, Republicans in the State Legislature are attempting on the UW system in other ways. In July, Gov. Evers used line-item veto power in the state budget to block a Republican attempt to cut 188 jobs in the UW System that have some type of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) function. However, the state budget also contained a measure to cut $32 million from the UW system, roughly the same amount the system spends on DEI programming, which the Governor did not veto.

 

So far, UW System President Jay O. Rothman has refused to cut DEI programs. To retaliate, Republicans in the State Legislature excluded UW workers from a 6% pay raise over two years for most state employees. over this decision. The UW System is also seeking to get back the $32 million that was cut in the state budget in the form of funding for workforce development programs that would be dedicated to training programs for jobs in high-demand fields.

ADEA Advocacy in Action

This appears weekly in the ADEA Advocate to summarize and provide direct links to recent advocacy actions taken by ADEA. Please let us know what you think and how we might improve its usefulness.

 

Issues and Resources

  • ADEA on teledentistry
  • ADEA on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Schools
  • ADEA policy regarding overprescription of antibiotics
  • For a full list of ADEA memos, briefs and letters click .

The is published weekly. Its purpose is to keep ADEA members abreast of federal and state issues and events of interest to the academic dentistry and the dental and research communities.

 

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B. Timothy Leeth, CPA

ADEA Chief Advocacy Officer

 

Bridgette DeHart, J.D.

ADEA Director of Federal Relations and Advocacy

 

Phillip Mauller, M.P.S.

ADEA Director of State Relations and Advocacy

 

Varsha Menon

ADEA Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations

 

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