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American Dental Education Association

Volume 1, No. 30, September 10, 2019
Washington State Proposal Would Make Dental Therapists Eligible for Medicaid Reimbursement

 

A recent by the Washington State Health Care Authority would make dental therapists eligible to receive reimbursement from Medicaid for services provided at tribal facilities. The state currently limits the practice of dental therapy to facilities operated by an Indian health program that are located on tribal lands. A hearing on the proposal will take place on Sept. 24, and all written comments are due by the same date. Information about the hearing and where to submit comments can be found in the .

California Bill Would Make Changes to Dental Practice Act

 

Legislation is moving forward in the California State Legislature that, if enacted, would extend the authority of the Dental Board of California (Board) through 2024, and make several significant changes to the state’s Dental Practice Act. Some of the most significant changes would enact are as follows:

  • The bill would require foreign dental schools to complete the international consultative and accreditation process with the Commission on Dental Accreditation or a comparable accrediting body approved by the Board. The bill also requires all foreign dental schools already approved by the Board to complete the accreditation process by Jan. 1, 2024.
  • The bill would require dentists on disciplinary probation to disclose their probation status to patients.
  • The bill would require a clause that would target companies that sell self-applied treatment for orthodontia by making “failure to review diagnostic digital or conventional radiographs or other equivalent bone imaging suitable for orthodontia prior to the diagnosis and correction of malpositions of human teeth or use of orthodontic appliances” unprofessional conduct under the act. The bill also requires any entity that provides services through teledentistry to make available the name and state license number of any dentist providing these services.
  • The bill would require to practice dentistry an examination that assesses competency in the areas of diagnosis, treatment planning and restorative, endodontic, periodontal and prosthetic dentistry.
  • The bill would require applicants for licensure as dental assistants to pass the Registered Dental Assistant Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination, and require an applicant to provide evidence of successfully completing board-approved courses in infection control, the Dental Practice Act, including the Dental Practice Act for Dental Assisting Jurisprudence, and basic life support.
  • The bill would require the Board to report how many other states have recognized licensure by portfolio prior to its next sunset review in 2024.

AB 1519 has already passed the Assembly, as well as a committee vote in the Senate. The bill will now move to the Senate floor for a vote.
Congress Returns This Week, Senate Will Likely Tackle Massive Appropriations Bill

 

U.S. Congress returns to work this week and will undertake matters of interest to dental education.

 

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to markup the fiscal year 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill on Sept. 10 and in the full committee on Sept. 12. The funding for all programs and maybe those of concern to dental education, will not be as generous as the funding provided in the U.S. House of Representatives’ version, , because the overall numbers that the Senate is using reflect the budget agreement enacted in July (), which are lower than the overall totals the House was working with.

 

Next week, the ADEA Advocate will have more details on the Senate bill.
GAO Issues Report on Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

 

On Sept. 5, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a entitled, “Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Improving the Temporary Expanded Process Could Help Reduce Borrower Confusion.”

 

The report took the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to task for the way it has handled the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) program enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2018. Under the terms of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, to be eligible to have their loan balances forgiven, borrowers:

  • Must be in an income-based, loan repayment plan,
  • Make 120 on-time payments (approximately 10 years’ worth) and
  • Be employed by certain public service employers.

Congress funded the TEPSLF to aid borrowers who were enrolled in non-qualifying repayment plans, allowing them to re-enroll in a qualifying plan and have the loan payments already made become qualifying payments under TEPSLF.

 

GAO found that as of May 2019, ED had received 54,184 completed requests for TEPSLF, but had denied 99% of them, approving only 661.

 

GAO recommended that ED require all loan servicers to include TEPSLF information on their websites and to include TEPSLF information in its online tool for borrowers. In a letter included in the report, ED agreed with each of GAO’s recommendations and identified steps it plans to take to eliminate the confusion among borrowers.

 

ADEA Advocacy and Government Relations will follow and report on the actions the ED makes to simplify and clarify TEPSLF.
Congress Considers Gun Violence Legislation After Recent Mass Shootings

 

Following the deadly shootings on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) 12 years ago, institutions responded by establishing treat assessment teams. According to , these assessment teams usually include

  • A member of the college’s communications team,
  • A member of campus law enforcement,
  • Dean of students,
  • A member of the general counsel’s office,
  • A representative from the institution’s mental health counseling team,
  • The Campus student conduct office,
  • Human resource representative and sometimes
  • The college president.

According to the National Council of State Legislators (), 16 states ban carrying a concealed firearm on campus and 23 states allow individual schools to make that decision. The recent mass casualty events in Dayton, OH, and El Paso and Odessa, TX, have led to more public discussion and calls to “do something.” The U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on Sept. 6 in El Paso on immigration and domestic terrorism and plans to markup gun violence legislation in D.C. this week.

 

The subject will also be discussed during the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee markup discussed in the previous article, “Congress Returns This Week, Senate Will Likely Tackle Massive Appropriations Bill.” There is currently a ban on any federal funds being used to research gun violence. The House bill, , removed the prohibition and provided $25 million each to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health to conduct research. The Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), is not likely to include that in his recommendations and the Democratic members of the Subcommittee are likely to press for the removal of the research ban.

 

We will report the outcome in next week’s ADEA Advocate.

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.

 

©2019

American Dental Education Association

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B. Timothy Leeth, CPA

ADEA Chief Advocacy Officer

 

Bridgette DeHart, J.D.

Director of Federal Relations

 

Phillip Mauller, M.P.S.

ADEA Director of State Relations and Advocacy

 

Brian Robinson

Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations

 

Ambika R. Srivastava, M.P.H.

ADEA/Sunstar Americas, Inc./Jack Bresch Legislative Intern

 

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