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Volume 1, No. 67, June 23, 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.
 
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.
 
Dental School COVID Related Capital Needs
June 1 – ADEA letter [ [link removed] ] to Sen. Lamar Alexander regarding reopening guidelines
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] ] .

HHS Allocates Funds to Medicaid and CHIP Providers
 
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expects to distribute $15 billion to eligible Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers through the Provider Relief Fund [ [link removed] ] under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
 
In addition to launching an application portal [ [link removed] ] that allows providers to attest to relief fund payments made for health care-related expenses or lost revenue attributed to COVID-19, HHS is also holding webcasts to learn more about the application process on June 23 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time [ [link removed] ] and June 25 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time [ [link removed] ] . Attendees can pre-register to reserve a spot on their preferred date. Providers can also download a user guide [ [link removed] ] to assist in understanding the application process.
 
On June 9, HHS announced this allocation from the Provider Relief Fund, stating that to be eligible for this funding, health care providers must not have
 • Received payments from the original allocation from the Fund of a $50-billion general distribution and/or
 • Directly billed their state’s Medicaid or CHIP programs or Medicaid-managed care plans for health care-related services between Jan. 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020.

Those requirements are not in the statute, but rather are conditions that HHS has imposed.

U.S. Supreme Court Extends Title VII Protections to the LGBTQ Community
 
The U.S. Supreme Court extended Title VII civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community in a landmark decision in the Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia [ [link removed] ] case. The Court held that employers who fire a person based on their sexual orientation or their gender identity violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The basis of the Court’s decision was the expansion of its definition of the word “sex.” Title VII prohibits discrimination based on any of five specified grounds: race, color, religion, sex and national origin. In its ruling, the court expanded its definition of “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
 
Though the case focused on employment discrimination, because the court extended Title VII protections to the LGBTQ community in the Bostock case, it can be plausibly assumed that those protections will be extended to other areas of society as well. The Court, however, did not address the issue of bathroom assignment for transgender individuals.
 
In addition to having wider societal implications, the Court’s decision could also impact recent Trump administration regulations, such as Title IX regulations governing sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, and health care regulations allowing the denial of services to the LGBTQ community based on a provider’s moral or religious views.

U.S. Supreme Court Rules DACA Program Cannot Immediately End
 
The U.S. Supreme Court made another important ruling last week—this time, in favor of the Regents of the University of California in the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California [ [link removed] ] case, also known as the “DACA” case.
 
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program grants deferral from deportation and work permits to nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children. The status lasts for two years and is renewable, but it does not provide a path to citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the Trump administration did not have the legal authority to create or maintain the DACA program and that, in fact, no president has the legal power to create or maintain that program.
 
In its ruling, the Court was clear that they “. . . do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,” but that the Court would “. . . address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action.” The Court ruled that DHS did not comply with procedural requirements and that it did not provide a reasonable explanation for ending the program.
 
It is important to note that in the ruling, the Court stated that the administration may try again to provide a reasonable explanation for shutting down the program. This leaves open the door for future administrations to end the DACA program.
 
The Trump administration has not said whether it would further pursue this case [ [link removed] ] .

Bill to Cut Adult Dental Medicaid Benefits Passes Colorado General Assembly
 
In a previous edition [ [link removed] ] of the ADEA Advocate, readers were alerted to the potential impact state budget cuts could have on dental benefits for adults on Medicaid. A Colorado bill that was featured in that article is one step closer to becoming law as it has now passed both chambers of the state’s General Assembly.
 
HB 1361 [ [link removed] ] would place an annual cap on dental benefits for adults on Medicaid of $1,000, a decrease of $500 from the current cap. If signed into law, the cap would expire after 2022, and would only be implemented after the requirement for a higher federal match through the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act expires. The bill will be sent to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis (D) for consideration.

Louisiana Governor Signs Several Dental and Higher Education Bills
 
The Louisiana State Legislature recently wrapped up its regular legislative session and before adjourning, it passed several bills that will have an impact on dentistry and higher education. On June 11 and 12, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed six of those bills into law. Their summaries can be found below.
 
Bills signed by Gov. Edwards that impact dentistry:
 • HB 311 [ [link removed] ] prohibits the denial of coverage for a dental condition existing prior to the date the coverage begins, but it allows a dental service contractor to impose up to a 12-month waiting period for coverage of preexisting conditions.
 • HB 353 [ [link removed] ] prohibits a dental service contractor from systematically downcoding, also known as shifting a service code to a code of lesser complexity with the intent to deny reimbursement. Downcoding is allowed if specified criteria are met.
 • HB 836 [ [link removed] ] allows the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry (LSBD) to waive or modify requirements for the use of human subjects to test the clinical competency of an applicant for initial licensure during a declared state of emergency. The bill applies to clinical competency exams for dentists and dental hygienists.
 • HB 363 [ [link removed] ] permits the LSBD to issue a retired volunteer dental hygienist license to an applicant who meets specified requirements and whose practice consists of voluntary care, as defined the LSBD rule.

Bills signed by Gov. Edwards that impact higher education:
 • SB 481 [ [link removed] ] requires postsecondary education management boards to adopt policies to address the negative impacts on postsecondary students, faculty and other employees caused by the public health emergency declared by the governor in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID -19.
 • SB 437 [ [link removed] ] provides that sick leave for unclassified personnel, both nonteaching and academic, may be used to care for an immediate family member who is ill or injured or to accompany an immediate family member to a medical, dental or optical consultation or treatment. The bill defines “immediate family member” as a spouse, parent or child of an employee.

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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