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American Dental Education Association


Volume 3, No. 32, February 27, 2024

Congressional Appropriations Deadlines Looming
 
The prospects for a funding agreement remain uncertain even as the days dwindle down to a precious few before the Friday, March 1, deadline and the departments of Agriculture, Veteran Affairs, Transportation, Energy and Housing and Urban Development and the Food and Drug Administration, among other federal agencies, cease to have authority to operate.
 
Anticipating the possibility of a multi-bill package, 28 members of the House Freedom Caucus and their supporters wrote to U.S. House of Representatives’ Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Feb. 21, requesting a briefing on the status of 21 of their priority matters that were included in the House version of various appropriations bills. Included in the list was the following:
 • A prohibition on funding of diversity, equity and inclusion activities and the implementation of President Biden’s executive orders on the subject,
 • The defunding of the World Health Organization,
 • A prohibition on Biden’s student loan initiatives and
 • A prohibition on funding for COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates.

A second deadline occurs on Friday, March 8, when funding authority for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education and others expires.
 
Unless the March 1 and March 8 deadlines are extended, or the appropriations bills are finalized and enacted, there would be a partial or entire federal government shutdown. As late as it is, it is too soon to say what the outcome might be.
 
ADEA AGR will report as soon as it becomes clearer.

Bill Reauthorizing Health Care Provider Mental Health Programs Introduced
 
The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 3679 [ [link removed] ] /H.R. 7153 [ [link removed] ] ). was introduced by in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), and the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). The bill reauthorizes grants and requires other activities to improve mental and behavioral health and prevent burnout among health care providers. Specifically, the reauthorization would instruct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to do the following:
 • Reauthorize grant programs for health care organizations and professional associations for employee education on strategies to reduce burnout, peer-support programming and mental and behavioral health treatment.
 • Reauthorize a grant program for health profession schools or other institutions to train health care workers and students in strategies to prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions and substance use disorders.
 • Reauthorize a national evidence-based education and awareness campaign. Reauthorization will provide resources for the campaign to continue and expand beyond its current scope.

If passed, the above grant programs would be reauthorized for five years. Congress hopes to pass this reauthorization no later than the end of the current Congress, which will remain in session until the end of 2024.
 
ADEA supported this bill when it was initially introduced and passed into law in 2022; ADEA also supports its reauthorization.

Georgia House Passes Bill to Include Dental Students in Rural Service Cancelable Loan Program
 
On Feb. 16, the Georgia House of Representatives passed legislation [ [link removed] ] that would make fourth-year dental students eligible for a program that provides cancelable loans to health care providers in exchange for providing services in an underserved rural area of the state. The program, which is administered by the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce (GBHCW), is currently open to practicing dentists and other specified health care providers. The bill directs GBHCW to give priority to dental students who wish to actively practice in specialties experiencing shortages or distribution problems in Georgia counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer.
 
Authorizing legislation [ [link removed] ] for the program permits GBHCW to determine maximum amounts for the loans and determine a region that constitutes a rural area. Under the Dentists for Rural Areas Assistance Program [ [link removed] ] that is currently in operation, dentists are eligible to receive up to $25,000 per year in exchange for providing services in underserved rural areas of Georgia with populations of 50,000 or fewer. Dentists can also earn a maximum of $100,000 over a four-year period.
 
The bill has been sent to the Senate for consideration.

ADEA Releases New Policy Report on Dental School Clinics
 
Last week, ADEA released Dental Schools in the Community: Expanding Access to Oral Health Care Services [ [link removed] ] , a policy research report. The ADEA report sheds light on the revenue sources and patient demographics of dental school clinics, revealing their disproportionate roles in delivering oral health care services to individuals enrolled in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), people of color and working-age adults. Some of findings include:
 • Thirty-seven percent of responding dental school patients received coverage through Medicaid and CHIP.
 • More than half of the Medicaid and CHIP patients reporting age information to dental schools fell between the ages of 20 and 64, double the national rate of working-age individuals with dental visits covered solely by public insurance.
 • Medicaid and CHIP represented about a third of the revenue at dental school clinics, three times higher than the corresponding percentage of these public programs in national dental expenditures.

Read this report and access the interactive charts at the ADEA website [ [link removed] ] . A big thank you to our colleagues in the Educational Services division for their work in preparing this report!

2024 ADEA/AADOCR/Friends of NIDCR Advocacy Day: Registration Deadline Extended to March 1
 
The deadline to register [ [link removed] ] for the 2024 Advocacy Day has been extended and now ends on Friday, March 1.
 
ADEA, the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research and the Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research will join forces for our 2024 Advocacy Day, which will take place April 10-11.
 
This event will be held in-person in Washington, DC. Participants will receive a legislative briefing and advocacy training on Wednesday, April 10, that will feature speakers from Congress, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Thursday, April 11, will be dedicated to group meetings on Capitol Hill with targeted congressional offices, including participants’ own elected officials.
 
We hope to see you there!

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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
 • ADA Dentist and Student Lobby Day, Apr. 7-9, 2024. Register here [ [link removed] ] .
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on teledentistry
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Schools
 • ADEA policy brief [ [link removed] ] regarding overprescription of antibiotics
 • For a full list of ADEA memos, briefs and letters click here [ [link removed] ] .

Key Federal Issues [ [link removed] ]

ADEA U.S. Interactive Legislative and Regulatory Tracking Map [ [link removed] ]

Key State Issues [ [link removed] ]

The ADEA Advocate [ [link removed] ] 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.
 
©2023
American Dental Education Association
655 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: 202-289-7201
Website: www.adea.org [ [link removed] ]

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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 Senior Director of State Relations and Advocacy
 
Contact Us:
[email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ]

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