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American Dental Education Association

Volume 2, No. 51, April 26, 2022
HHS Officially Establishes ARPA-H Under the NIH Umbrella

 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a on April 19 officially announcing the transfer of fiscal year (FY) 2022 money to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

 

Under , the ARPA-H Director will report directly to Becerra in a nod to the U.S. House of Representatives’ desire for ARPA-H to have autonomy and not be weighed down by the “slow, bureaucratic” processes of NIH. Though ARPA-H will have its own Director, staff and grant-making authority, NIH will perform the “administrative work” for ARPA-H, such as human resources, payroll and legal services. This addresses the Senate’s concerns regarding duplicative and therefore wasteful systems set-up in ARPA-H. Finally, ARPA-H will be physically located separately from the NIH campus.

 

Becerra announced these plans and informed Congress of ARPA-H’s placement during a hearing last month on the Health and Human Services’ FY2023 budget before the House Appropriations Committee. The FY2022 omnibus law provided HHS $1 billion to fund ARPA-H.

FDA Releases Final Rule for Added Fluoride Levels in Bottled Water

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its regarding added fluoride levels in bottled water. The final rule titled, Beverages: Bottled Water, lowers the previously acceptable levels, which ranged from 0.8 to 1.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L), to no more than 0.7 mg/L. The final rule applies to fluoride in domestically packaged and imported bottled water to which fluoride is added. This rule will not affect the allowable levels for fluoride in bottled water to which fluoride is not added by the manufacturer. In these cases, bottled water may naturally contain fluoride from its source water.

 

The was published in April 2019. The final rule was published on April 20, 2022, and will take effect June 19, 2022. The compliance date for industry is Oct. 17, 2022.

 

The added fluoride level was amended so that it would be in alignment with the 2015 recommendation, which is the most recent from the U.S. Public Health Service for fluoride concentration in community water systems that add fluoride to their water. The available data suggests that fluoride concentration of no more than 0.7 mg/L provides an optimal balance between the prevention of dental caries and the risk of dental fluorosis.
West Virginia Increases Licensure Portability

 

On April 19, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) that would increase licensure portability in the state. Under the new law, licensing boards in West Virginia are required to issue a license to anyone who has a held a license in another jurisdiction for at least one year, if the licensing board determines the other jurisdiction has a similar scope of practice, education, experience and examination requirements.

 

Similar laws have recently been signed or implemented in , , , , , , and .

New York Funds Fellowship to Address Oral Health Disparities

 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and the New York State Legislature have to the New York State Academic Dental Centers Fellowship to Address Oral Health Disparities. The year-long fellowship provides hands-on experience to dental school and residency program graduates treating people with intellectual and developmental disabilities under the supervision of faculty who have expertise in special needs dentistry. The fellowship will support six early-career dentists for the 2022-2023 academic year, one at each of New York State’s dental schools.

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.

 

Issues and Resources

  • Provider Relief Fund Reporting
  • ADEA regarding vaccines at the state level
  • ADEA on teledentistry
  • ADEA on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Schools
  • ADEA policy regarding overprescription of antibiotics
  • For a full list of ADEA memos, briefs and letters click .

 

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.

 

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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

 

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