This Week
in the Legislature
This has been a relatively quiet week in the Legislature as
both the House and Senate took a two-day recess on Monday and
Tuesday following last week’s “House of Origin” deadline.
This weekend is the annual Democrat’s Washington Days
celebration and caucus.
President Bill Clinton will be the guest of honor.
Career
Opportunity Fair
Dentists are invited to
participate in the
Kansas
Dental Association’s annual Career Opportunity Fair
(formerly the Comin’ and Goin’ Brunch).
If you are looking for an associate or dental hygienist
to join your practice, a new practice opportunity, or to sell
your practice this is an event that will provide you with
one-on-one interaction with students, other dentists, practice
brokers and others.
All
University of
Missouri Kansas City dental students have been invited to attend and
please note this year dental hygiene students from UMKC and
Johnson
County
Community College have also been invited.
To enable follow up communication, all participating
dentists will be provided with a list of the attending students,
while the students will be provided with a list of the attending
dentists.
The basic registration fee for KDA members is $25.
Registration is $50 if you would like a table.
The registration fee includes continental breakfast.
Make plans to attend the KDA Career Opportunity Fair
by registering at
www.ksdental.org/career/career_fair.htm or contact the KDA
office for a registration form.
Board of Delegates Meeting Materials Emailed
Board
delegates and alternate delegates were emailed materials for the
March 15 KDA Board of Delegates meeting earlier this week.
The materials included:
the agenda,
November 17,
2007
meeting minutes, 2007-08 proposed budget, a proposed Ethics
bylaw amendment and more.
If you did not receive this information please contact
the KDA office. Mark
your calendars for the
Thursday, March 15 meeting to be held in conjunction with
the UMKC’s Midwest Dental Conference in the Hyatt’s Empire C
room starting at
1:30 P.M.
The Executive Committee will be meeting in the morning of
Thursday, March 15 as well.
Dental
Issues Status
The 2007
Legislative Session begins a new two-year session.
All Senate Bills (SB) will be new beginning with SB 1.
All House Bills (HB) will begin with HB 2001.
Next week all non-exempt bills that did not meet the House of
Origin deadline will be removed from the KDA Update as
they are now “dead.”
Dental Practice
SB 82
does not apply directly to dentistry, but the KDA is monitoring
it very closely as it would allow would allow school of
chiropractic medicine and osteopathy an exemption from the
corporate practice
prohibition in the healing arts act.
The bill has been passed by the
full Senate. A
hearing is scheduled on Wednesday, March 7 in the House
Committee on Health and Human Services.
SB 176
is the bill that amends the dental hygienist
Extended Care Permit
(ECP) provisions passed in 2002.
The bill reduces the amount clinical experience hours to
qualify for an ECP I from 1,800 to 1,200 hours; creates a method
for previously qualified dental hygienists’ to qualify if they
have been in a non-clinical or not practicing in the previous
five years; modifies the practice settings to better identify
underserved populations, and; allows ECP dental hygienists to
apply topical anesthetic.
The KDA Board of Delegates reviewed and approved the
proposed bill at its November meeting.
The Senate Committee on
Public Health and Welfare amended the bill at the suggestion of
the KDA to allow dental hygienists to apply topical anesthesia
under general supervision.
The bill has been passed by the full Senate and is now
assigned to the House Committee on Health and Human Services.
HB 2214
would authorize the Kansas Dental Board (KDB) to deny, revoke
suspend or limit a dentist’s
sedation permit. This is
current practice, however, the KDB’s recent review of the
sedation and anesthesia rules and regulations brought into
question its authority to do so.
The bill has been passed
by the full House and it is now assigned to the Senate Committee
on Public Health and Welfare where a hearing will be held on
Wednesday, March 7.
The provisions of
HB
2215 are now in this bill.
HB
2215
would establish a maximum fee of $200 for the Kansas Dental
Board (KDB) to charge for certain
permits.
The KDB currently charges licensee for sedation and other
permits, however, HB 2215 will validate that practice.
The provisions of HB 2215
were amended into HB 2214.
HB
2216
is the Dental Board’s bill that will
change the biennial
licensure schedule of dentists and dental hygienists.
Currently, all dentists renew their license in odd years
and dental hygienists renew in even years.
The new method will mix dentist and dental hygienist
licensure renewal based on the licensee’s license number.
As a result, about half of the dental hygienists and
dentists that renew in 2008 and 2009 respectively will have a
one-time one year renewal.
The bill has been passed by the
full House and it is now assigned to the Senate Committee on
Public Health and Welfare where a hearing will be held on
Wednesday, March 7.
HB
2417
is a bill introduced by KDHA that would change the
makeup of the dental
board to four dentists, four dental hygienists and one
public member.
Currently there are six dentists, two dental hygienists and one
public member. No
hearing is scheduled in the House Committee on Health and Human
Services.
Not having met the “House of Origin” deadline, HB 2417 is
now “dead.”
HB
2530
would
explicitly exempt
healthcare providers from the
Kansas Consumer Protection
Act statute.
This corrects the problem recently created by a Kansas
Supreme Court ruling that held that healthcare providers are
included in the provisions that were meant to cover deceptive
practices concerning retail transactions.
A group of healthcare provider organizations (including
the KDA), led by the Kansas Medical Society, are teaming up to
push for HB 2530.
The hearing on HB 2530 was
held yesterday in the House Committee on Judiciary.
The KDA provided written testimony in support of the
bill.
Mercury
SB 1
is similar to bills that the KDA has monitored in past years
that would prohibit
mercury-based thimerosol in vaccines.
Unlike past bills, SB 1 provides that the Secretary of
Health may exempt a vaccine containing thimerosol if there is a
vaccine shortage, epidemic, bioterrorist incident, etc.
SB 1 was introduced by Senate minority leader Anthony
Hensley and Senator Dennis Wilson.
No hearing is scheduled in the Senate Committee on Public
Health and Welfare.
SB 1 is exempt from the “House of Origin” deadline and, therefore,
remains “alive”.
HB
2526
would create a statewide
atmospheric mercury deposition monitoring network to measure
the deposition of mercury in
Kansas.
The data collected will be made available to Kansas-based
research institutes and scientists for exploration of the impact
of mercury on
Kansas
flora, fauna and human population.
HB 2526 has been introduced to monitor atmospheric
mercury created by coal-fire electric generating plants, but
could impact dentistry.
The hearing on HB 2526 was
held yesterday in the House Committee on Utilities.
Insurance
SB 175
would require all insurance policies to contain a provision to
allow for the assignment of benefits directly to a provider of the care.
The KDA testified in
support of the bill at a hearing in Senate Committee on
Financial Institutions and Insurance this past week.
SB 175 is exempt from the “House of Origin” deadline and,
therefore, remains “alive”.
SB 273
would add dentistry to the “healthcare prompt payment act.”
This would require a dental insurance carrier to pay a
clean dental claim within 30 days of receipt.
The KDA testified in
support of the bill at a hearing on the bill in the Senate
Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance.
The full Senate passed the bill and it is now assigned to
the House Committee on Insurance and Financial Institutions.
HB 2272
is
the “health care price transparency act.”
It would require each health insurance carrier and health
provider to publicly disclose their rates for certain and common
health or medical services.
Dentistry is not included in the bill.
The bill has been assigned to the House Committee on
Insurance and Financial Institutions.
Not having met the “House
of Origin” deadline, HB 2272 is now “dead.”
HB
2273
is similar to SB 175 as it would require all insurance policies
to contain a provision to allow for the
assignment of benefits
directly to a provider of the care. The bill has been assigned
to the House Committee on Insurance.
Not having met the “House of
Origin” deadline, HB 2273 is now “dead.”
Public Health
SB 37
would prohibit tobacco smoking in all indoor public places except a
“cigar-tobacco bar.”
The Senate Committee on
Judiciary advanced the bill to the full Senate without a
recommendation. SB
37 is exempt from the “House of Origin” deadline and, therefore,
remains “alive”, but it no action is expected this year as a
summer “Interim Study” is likely on this bill.
SB 170
would establish criteria for the types of beverages
that are available in
elementary and junior high/middles schools.
Permissible beverages are defined….not to include
carbonated and high sugar drinks.
The bill is assigned to the Senate
Committee on Education where the KDA testified during a hearing.
Not having met the “House of Origin” deadline, SB 170 is
now “dead.”
SB 302
would create the
“controlled substance monitoring task force” that would
implement a program to monitor controlled substances.
The task force would be made up of 11 members including a
person appointed by the Kansas Dental Association.
SB 302 was passed by the
full Senate and is now assigned to the House Committee on
Appropriations.
SB 318
would direct the State of
Kansas
to use the tobacco settlement money for tobacco cessation and prevention
activities.
The bill is exempt and assigned to
the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
HB
2243
would prohibit the use of tobacco within or on the property of a medical
care facility (this does not include a dental office).
The bill is assigned to the House Committee on Health and
Human Services.
Not having met the “House
of Origin” deadline, HB 2243 is now “dead.”
Charitable Work
HB
2102
would allow
healthcare professionals who donate their time to indigent
patients at significantly reduced or no cost to apply through a
nonprofit community service organization to apply for a
tax credit at the
rate of $50/hour.
The tax credit would cap at $3,000/year/ taxpayer.
The KDA presented
testimony in support of HB 2102 in the House Committee on
Taxation No action is expected on HB 2102 as many other
professions asked to be added to the bill causing significant
confusion and frustration for the Committee.
Government
Administrative
SB 16
would authorize the Joint Committee on Children’s Issues to introduce
legislation.
This Committee has been in existence since 1999 usually meets
during the Legislative Interim.
This bill would provide the Committee with more power to
carry outs it legislative charge.
SB 16 is assigned to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means where a
hearing has been held.
SB 16 is exempt from the
“House of Origin” deadline and, therefore, remains “alive”.
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