Report Title:

Dental Health; Temporary Licensure

 

Description:

Allows post-doctoral dental residents enrolled in an American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited dental residency program to be granted a temporary license for the duration of the program.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1374

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO DENTISTS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Inadequate dental care is a serious matter and has been identified as a major unmet health concern for low-income children.  Department of health data shows that children in Hawaii have significantly higher rates of dental caries, baby-bottle tooth decay, and unmet treatment needs, while they also have lower rates of protective dental sealants.  These statistics are markedly higher for children of Hawaiian, Southeast Asian, or Pacific Islander ancestry, and generally worse for children residing in rural areas of the neighbor islands.

     Access to dental care is further reduced for children with medicaid coverage because of the lack of available dental providers willing to accept medicaid patients.  The critical shortage of dentists who serve children covered by medicaid on neighbor islands is so severe that the Med-QUEST Program must spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to transport children with their parents to Oahu for care.

     Federally qualified health centers have been identified as the most appropriate and effective entities to provide dental care to children covered by medicaid.  Many of these federally qualified health centers plan to participate in a pediatric dental residency program accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation.  This program will support increased service and dental recruitment and retention that will support the expansion of federally qualified health center dental capacity.

     The purpose of this Act is to modify dental licensing regulations to ensure that dentists participating in a multi-year pediatric dental residency program accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation can obtain temporary licensure for the duration of their training.

     SECTION 2.  Section 448-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§448-12  Temporary license.  (a)  The board of dental examiners may issue without examination to any resident or nonresident otherwise qualified to be examined a temporary license to practice dentistry in the employment of the State or any county, or any legally incorporated eleemosynary dispensary or infirmary, private school, or welfare center.  The temporary license shall authorize the person to whom the license is issued to practice dentistry exclusively while engaged in that employment and shall be in force until the earliest of the following occurs:

     (1)  The date the person leaves the employment authorized under the temporary license;

     (2)  The three hundred ninety-sixth calendar day following the date of issuance of the temporary license;

     (3)  The date on which the results of the licensure examination taken by the person under this chapter are posted by the board; or

     (4)  The date on which the board revokes the temporary license;

provided that the board may revoke the temporary license at any time for cause.

     No person who has failed an examination shall have the benefit of any temporary license.

     (b)  The board of dental examiners may issue without examination to any resident or nonresident licensed in another state and otherwise qualified to be examined a temporary license to practice dentistry while in the employment of the department of health to provide dental services to Hansen's disease sufferers.  The temporary license shall be valid for a period of three years or until the first board examination after the conclusion of the three-year period and only while the person to whom the temporary license is issued is in the employment of the department of health and works under the general direction and supervision of a duly licensed dentist.  The temporary license shall not be renewed and shall be reviewed annually by the board of dental examiners for continuance and shall be subject to revocation and suspension as provided in section 448-17.  The temporary licensee shall not be eligible for examination by the board of dental examiners while the temporary license is in effect.

     (c)  The board of dental examiners may issue a temporary license without examination to any person otherwise qualified to be examined who is enrolled in a post-doctoral dental residency program that is accredited and recognized by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation.  The temporary license shall authorize the person to whom the license is issued to practice dentistry exclusively within the dental residency program and shall be in force until the earlier of the following occurs:

(1)  The date the person completes or leaves the dental residency program; or

(2)  The date on which the board revokes the temporary license; 

provided that the board may revoke the temporary license at any time for cause.  Post-doctoral dental residents who are granted temporary licenses under this subsection shall act under the direct supervision of the dental residency program faculty licensed in Hawaii and be assigned to training sites restricted to eleemosynary health care organizations, training site hospitals, or other training programs that are affiliated with the dental residency program and visited and accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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