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American Dental Education Association

Volume 1, No. 59, April 28, 2020

Education Department Releases $6.2 Billion in Institutional Grants

 

Last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released an additional $6.2 billion in higher education institutional grants. The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund provides funding for two separate grant programs that are available to the higher education community to cover emergency costs due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Education (ED) previously released $6.28 billion in funding for Emergency Student Relief Grants and is now releasing $6.2 billion for Institutional Relief Grants. These programs were authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

 

Under terms of Institutional Relief Grants, universities can use the money received to cover significant changes in instruction delivery due to the pandemic. ED that money can be used "to expand remote learning programs, build IT capacity and train faculty and staff to operate in a remote learning environment so that, at any moment, institutions can pivot quickly."

 

ED intends to get the funding out as soon as possible and to provide institutions as much flexibility as needed in using the funding. One of the funding requirements for this grant is that institutions must also have executed the Certification and Agreement for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students before submitting the Certification and Agreement for the Institutional Grants.
More States Modify Testing Requirements for Initial Dental Licensure

 

On April 17, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued an modifying testing requirements for initial licensure as a dentist. The executive order suspended requirements that persons applying for a license complete an examination on a live human patient in order to permit the Tennessee Board of Dentistry to grant a license to people who have graduated in 2020 from a dental school accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). To be eligible for a license under the order, a recent graduate must have:

  • Completed the other licensure requirements;
  • Met all requirements for competency promulgated by CODA; and
  • Been certified by the dean of their CODA-accredited dental school as qualified, competent and fit to practice dentistry.

The Kentucky Board of Dentistry issued a on April 17 announcing the board would grant temporary licenses to dental and dental hygiene school graduates who are unable take the clinical examination, but meet all other licensure requirements. These provisional licenses would be valid for 90 days after the order to postpone elective procedures to rescind, and would also require licensees to practice under the direct supervision of a dentist with at least five years of experience.

 

In Iowa, the Dental Board that they have approved a waiver for D4 students at The University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics, which permits a modified clinical exam. The modified exam includes the manikin portion of the state’s current clinical exam, plus an objective-structured clinical exam. The Dental Board’s newsletter also states that the board is “diligently working through options for hygiene students as well and are hoping to have more to report soon.”

 

In Maine, the Board of Dental Practice the CompeDont™ Tooth as an alternative to the Restorative Section of the American Board of Dental Examiners examination administered by The Commission on Dental Competency Assessments and the Council of Interstate Testing Agencies. The Board also stated that they will, “consider other examinations as they become available for review such as any alternative to the dental hygiene examination, the live patient examination required for the periodontal section, as well as the Dental Licensure Objective Structured Clinical Examination that is anticipated to be released by the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations”.

 

ADEA Advocacy and Government Relations is tracking and summarizing these policies as they develop in all 50 states. More information can be found on .
Minnesota Bill Would Provide Grants to Dental Clinics

 

A recently in Minnesota would provide grants of up to $10,000 to help dental clinics remain operational for the purpose of providing emergency dental care during the state’s peacetime emergency order. In order receive a grant, dental clinics would have to agree to accept any patient in need of emergency services, regardless of financial limitations or insurance status. Grantees would also have to provide access to a dentist 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency dental services and provide on the clinic's website a telephone number for patients to call in case of an emergency.

President Trump Issues Executive Order Aimed at Immigration

 

Last week, President Trump issued an “temporarily suspending immigration into the United States.” The order will be in effect for 60 days and was executed in response to the high unemployment rates resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Trump Administration. The administration wants to ensure that Americans would have less competition for jobs once the economy reopens and believes that prohibiting immigration will be helpful in achieving those goals.

 

Various exemptions from the order are listed, such as doctors and nurses who are seeking entry into the country. Immigrants, such as H1B visa holders and students currently in the United States, will not be affected by the order.

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.

 

©2020

American Dental Education Association

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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

 

Brian Robinson

ADEA Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations

 

Higher Logic