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Volume 1, No. 64, June 2, 2020

ADEA Advocacy in Action
This is a new feature that will appear 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.
 
Lost Clinic Revenue—Provider Relief Fund
May 1 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with the Partnership for Medicaid on fund reimbursement for Medicaid providers.
April 30 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with ADHA on availability of reimbursement from Fund.
April 17 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with the Organized Dentistry Coalition urging HHS to include dentists in the Provider Relief Fund eligibility for lost revenue reimbursement.
March 26 – ADEA letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin [ [link removed] ] .
 
Other COVID Issues
May 28 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with the American Council on Education regarding liability protection shields.
May 18 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with ADA and AADR in support of funding COVID-19 research.
April 21 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] with the American Council on Education to Congressional leaders asking that Federal emergency student aid not be considered as income.
 
Dental School COVID Related Capital Needs
May 13 – ADEA letter to Speaker Pelosi [ [link removed] ] and Rep. Frank Pallone [ [link removed] ] (D-NJ) about infrastructure improvements and modernization funds for dental schools,
 
2019 Graduate Licensure
April 9 – ADEA letter [ [link removed] ] to National Governors Association.
 
For a full list of ADEA Letters and Policy Memos, click here [ [link removed] ] .

ADEA and Others Ask Congress for College and University Liability Protection
 
With colleges and universities currently considering their Fall 2020 re-opening plans [ [link removed] ] , ADEA joins the higher education community urging U.S. lawmakers to extend liability protection [ [link removed] ] for these institutions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Fear of skyrocketing legal costs resulting from colleges and universities “defending against COVID-19 spread lawsuits, even when they have done everything within their power to keep students, employees and visitors safe” is the impetus behind the letter [ [link removed] ] being sent to Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. The educators join business leaders in requesting liability protection.
 
The inclusion of liability protection has become a sticking point in the COVID-19 funding bill negotiations. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Majority Leader, support the inclusion of liability protection in any new COVID-19 funding bill. However, liability protection is opposed by HELP Committee Ranking Member Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
 
Unions and consumer groups, who also oppose liability protections, argue that if these protections are included in the bill, it will be harder to hold accountable bad actors who do not take adequate precautions.

Medicaid Expansion Update
 
To date, 35 states and Washington, DC [ [link removed] ] have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which allows states to provide coverage to adult populations who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level. While 14 states have elected not to expand Medicaid, fights to include expansion may result in changes in some of those states.
 
This year, voters in Oklahoma [ [link removed] ] and Missouri [ [link removed] ] will have the opportunity to decide the fate of Medicaid expansion in their states. In Oklahoma, the vote will take place during November elections, while in Missouri, the vote was recently moved up to the state’s August primary. These ballot initiatives will appear in both states as a result of voter petitions. Similar initiatives have passed in Idaho, Nebraska, Maine and Utah.
 
While voters in Nebraska passed a Medicaid expansion referendum in 2018, the state still has not implemented the expansion, but it appears as though enrollment will begin in October [ [link removed] ] . The referendum called for traditional Medicaid expansion, but instead, the state created a two-tiered system [ [link removed] ] in which everyone would be enrolled at a basic level of coverage and “prime coverage” could be earned by meeting work and prescribed wellness requirements. Prime coverage will include benefits currently under traditional Medicaid in the state, like dental, vision and coverage for over-the-counter medications. In order to implement the two-tiered system, the state must receive a waiver from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The state submitted the waiver in December and noted it will not be able to implement prime coverage until the waiver is approved.
 
Finally, the Kansas State Legislature had been expected to pass Medicaid expansion legislation this year after Gov. Laura Kelly (D) and State Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning (R) agreed on compromise legislation [ [link removed] ] . A debate over abortion, however, killed the bill [ [link removed] ] ; State Senate President Susan Wagle (R) refused to bring the Medicaid expansion bill to the floor for a vote unless the legislature passed a constitutional amendment that would have overturned a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that found the Kansas Constitution protects the right to have an abortion.

ADEA Files Amicus Brief in Race-based Admission Case
 
ADEA joins other higher education groups in filing an amicus brief [ [link removed] ] in support of Harvard University’s admission process.
 
In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard Corporation, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) initially sued Harvard University in 2014, asserting that Harvard discriminated against Asian Americans during its holistic review admissions process. A Massachusetts federal judge ruled in favor of Harvard in 2019. SFFA subsequently filed an appeal in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2020.
 
ADEA’s amicus brief, filed in the Circuit Court of Appeals, emphasizes that diversity—including racial diversity—advances learning, enriches campus environments and prepares students to thrive in an increasingly diverse workforce and society. It underscores that the Supreme Court permits Harvard, like all colleges and universities, to pursue the version of diversity that best suits its mission and goals, including a limited consideration of race.

CDC Releases Re-opening Dental Settings Guidance
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a guidance for dental settings [ [link removed] ] . The guidance addresses resuming non-emergency dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructions [ [link removed] ] for handling patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and guidance [ [link removed] ] regarding non-COVID-19 health system clinical care were also released. The new guidance is extensive and addresses issues from patient management, to facility and equipment considerations.
 
This new guidance does not recommend on the spot COVID-19 testing, as some had suggested. Rather, it advises COVID-19 screenings be included in patient outreach prior to the visit, health questionnaires and temperature readings upon arrival. It also advises patients don masks when appropriate. The CDC will be holding a webinar [ [link removed] ] on Wednesday, June 3 to discuss their new guidance.

Louisiana House Passes Pair of Dental Insurance Bills
 
In recent weeks, the Louisiana House of Representatives passed two bills regulating coverage of dental procedures by insurers.
 
HB 353 [ [link removed] ] , which passed the House on May 22, prohibits a dental service contractor from systematically downcoding; that is, shifting a service code to a code of lesser complexity with the intent to deny reimbursement. The bill also deems downcoding to be an unfair or deceptive practice. Additionally, the legislation also prohibits an insurer from changing a procedure code unless submitted by a provider or unless the change is consistent with dental contract policies and the insurer has sufficient information to make the change.
 
HB 311 [ [link removed] ] also passed the House on May 22, and prohibits the denial of dental plan claims based upon preexisting conditions. The bill does, however, allow a dental service contractor to impose up to a 12-month waiting period for coverage of preexisting conditions.
 
Both bills have been sent to the state Senate for consideration.

ADEA State Calendar [ [link removed] ]

ADEA Washington Calendar [ [link removed] ]

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

Key Federal Issues [ [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.
 
©2020
American Dental Education Association
655 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20001
202-289-7201, 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 Director of State Relations and Advocacy
 
Brian Robinson
ADEA Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations
 
[email protected] [ mailto:[email protected]?subject=State%20Update%3A%20 ]

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