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American Dental Education Association

Volume 1, No. 90, December 8, 2020

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.
 
Dental School COVID Related Capital Needs
Sep 25 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] in Support of Supplemental COVID-19 Relief
Aug 5 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] Regarding Institutional Aid
 
Other COVID Issues
Nov 30 – Sign-on letter [ [link removed] ] regarding Voices of the Pandemic
Nov 20 – ADEA letter [ [link removed] ] to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
Nov 20 – Joint letter [ [link removed] ] in support of Borrower Relief extension
Nov 6 – ADEA letter [ [link removed] ] regarding inclusion of dental professionals and students in national vaccination strategy
 
Additional Resources
ADEA webinar [ [link removed] ] on State Advocacy
NHSC Service Loan Repayment Program user guide [ [link removed] ] and application portal [ [link removed] ]
For a full list of ADEA Letters and Policy Memos, click here [ [link removed] ] .

Health Care Personnel Will Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine First
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13 to 1 to adopt the recommendation [ [link removed] ] that health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities (LTCF) be the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The definition of health care personnel would include dental students, allied dental students and residents all in direct contact with patients. This recommendation closely follows the National Academies’ Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine [ [link removed] ] .
 
The lone “no” vote was from a member who had expressed concern that not enough was known about the vaccine’s effect on frail LTCF populations, as they were not included in the trials.
 
The CDC Director has already adopted ACIP’s recommendation.
 
The prioritization adopted by ACIP is slightly different than the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) Consensus Committee’s recommendations. In October, NAM recommended health care personnel and first responders be included in Phase 1a. LTCF residents were included in Phase 1b under the National Academy of Sciences’ Framework. ACIP stated that first responders and other essential employees will likely be included in Phase 1b of its recommendations. ACIP plans to release additional recommendations on a rolling basis.
 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) request for the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 10, and the EUA request from Moderna for its vaccine on Dec. 17. If either of those requests are approved, vaccine distribution to state and local public health authorities will begin within 24 hours of approval and vaccinations can start.

Biden Transition Update
 
President-elect Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mr. Becerra is currently the Attorney General of California and previously served 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing a Los Angeles district. As CA AG he organized and led the defense of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) when the Federal government withdrew it’s defense of the law. Secretary-designate received his undergraduate and J.D. from Stanford University.
 
Also announced were the nomination of Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A. to serve as United States Surgeon General. He previously served as USSG from 2014-2016. During his career as a research scientist, he conducted laboratory research on vaccine development and studied the participation of women and minorities in clinical trials. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Yale. He is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School as an internal medicine physician and instructor.
 
And the incoming administration plans to nominate Rochelle Walensky, M.D., M.P.H. to be Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Walensky is currently the Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. She received her M.D. degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and her M.P.H. from Harvard’s T.C. Chan School of Public Health.

Judge Rules Against Federal Government’s New Prevailing Wage Rule
 
A judge in Northern California’s District Court issued a court order in favor of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (The Chamber). The order [ [link removed] ] is a declaratory judgment that enjoins both the Department of Homeland Security’s [ [link removed] ] and the Department of Labor’s [ [link removed] ] rules for their failure to go through the proper Notice and Comment process required by the Administrative Procedures Act. Both rules would have restructured the methodology for computing prevailing wage levels for foreign worker programs in the H1-B visa program.
 
In its filing, the Chamber also asked the Court to rule on the arbitrary and capriciousness of the rules themselves. However, the Court did not rule on those issues.
 
ADEA, along with others in the higher education community, filed an amicus brief in support of the Chamber. The higher education community was concerned about the chilling impact these rules could have on a university’s ability to find, recruit and hire foreign faculty.

Montana Proposes Extension of Manikin-based Exams
 
On Nov. 20, Montana’s Board of Dentistry published a regulatory proposal [ [link removed] ] that would extend a decision to allow manikin-based exams beyond 2020 for both dentists and dental hygienists. Earlier this year, the board passed a rule that would allow students who graduate in 2020 to substitute the Western Regional Examination Board (WREB) manikin examination for patient-based examinations. That exemption to patient-based examinations, however, is set to expire Dec. 31.
 
If the proposed rule were to be implemented, it would extend the exemption to any period during the state of emergency declared by the Governor. A virtual public hearing [ [link removed] ] will be held on the proposal on Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. A public hearing also will be held via remote conferencing to consider the proposed amendment to the above-stated rule.

Licensure Reciprocity for Members of the Military, Veterans and Their Dependents Gains Steam in Michigan
 
A pair of bills that would increase licensure portability for members of the military, veterans and their dependents passed Michigan’s Senate on Dec. 3. SB 1222 [ [link removed](S(rkaec1y0l3oyhpjy3wa05l4w))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=2020-SB-1222 ] and SB 1223 [ [link removed](S(rkaec1y0l3oyhpjy3wa05l4w))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=2020-SB-1223 ] are tie-barred bills, meaning both bills must pass in order for either to become effective. Together, the bills would require the state to issue an occupational license to any member of the military, a veteran or their dependent, if that person has held an active license granted by another jurisdiction for at least one year. Any person seeking licensure under the provisions of the bills must not have had a license revoked or suspended, unresolved discipline imposed or a complaint, any allegation or investigation pending. SB 1223 defines dependent as a spouse, a surviving spouse, a child under 26 years of age or a surviving child under 26 years of age.
 
The bills now will be sent to the state’s House of Representatives 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] [ [link removed] ]

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