Advocacy

Advocacy

Standing Up For Our Patients' Health

Our advocacy efforts focus on safely increasing access to care for our patients.

NATIONAL LEGISLATION OF INTEREST

  • HR 2417- Heads Up Act: This would designate people who have special healthcare needs as a medically underserved population.  This would increase access to care for this population. Currently Dr. Brooke does NOT qualify for the National Health Service Corps because this population is not designated as an MUP and our practice focuses on this population. Dr. Brooke loses $10,000 per year in loan repayment because she chooses to focus on this population. This act would change that and enable providers like Dr. Brooke to qualify for loan repayment in programs like the National Health Service Corps.  Click HERE to read this Act.

IDAHO LEGISLATION OF INTEREST:

  • Teledentistry Virtual Care Access Act  (SB1126).
    • This updates terminology to include other telecommunications. Clarifies that we can establish relationships using teledentistry, but also upholds the community standard of care. It also helps clarify jurisdiction of teledental services rendered for Idahoans. Another great thing it does is establish a telehealth advisory board to help increase the utilization of teledentistry. We supported this bill.  Click HERE to read this bill.
  • Teledentistry Bill ( SB1295.):
    • This passed in both the house and the senate, however was vetoed.  This bill would have put more transparency on teledentistry in our state. We supported this bill. Click HERE to read this bill.
  • Improving Preventative Coverage for Adults who have Disabilities:
    • We have made multiple attempts to bring our Medicaid Coverage up to the standard of care for adults who have disabilities. We have made traction with multiple organizations, but have not seen wide reaching results.  For a detailed list of things we have supported see the 2020 ISDA Treating Disease vs Fixing Teeth.   Some of the major things we would like to change are:
      • We would like to see coverage of fluoride varnish for adults
      • We would like to see coverage of  cleanings every three months for high risk adults
      • We would like to see coverage of topical application of caries arresting medicaments and preventative medicaments
      • We would like to see coverage of scaling in the presence of gingival inflammation
      • We would like to see coverage of Behavior Management codes for adults based on need
      • We would like to see coverage of Dental Case Management- Special Healthcare Needs
      • We would like to see coverage of Oral Hygiene Instructions
  • Dental Therapy
    • Dental therapy was added into the Idaho Dental Practice Act and Administrative Rules. While dental therapists can help in many ways, it is important to understand the level of education for this type of provider is not standardized across the country.  In some programs, a person can become a dental therapist with as little as two years of training. This means their education level lies somewhere between a dental assistant and a dental hygienist.  There are also programs that require a hygiene degree as a pre-requisite before beginning training. In these circumstances, the dental therapist would have an education level between a hygienist and a dentist. Look for the RDH after their name to differentiate. Some states differentiate what dental therapists do based on their education level.   Idaho accepts the minimum level of training and does not assign limitations based on education level.   When this change came about, we supported The Special Care Dentists of Idaho's effort to ensure that a medical history and treatment plan review would be done by a dentist before invasive treatment rendered.  We were unsuccessful and this was not added to the rules. We support a more transparent multi-tiered system for dental therapy with increased emphasis on supervision based on medical complexity of the patient as opposed to supervision based on procedures to be performed.

Documents WE Contributed to and  Support