“Dead” Bills Removed From
KDA Update
The following bills have been removed from the
KDA Update as they
failed to meet the “House of Origin” deadline.
These bills will be active again for the 2008 Legislative
Session:
SB 170
- Beverages available in schools - hearing held, but no
Committee action taken.
HB
2215
- KDB sedations permits - amended into
HB
2214
HB
2243
– Prohibiting smoking in medical facilities – no action taken.
HB
2272
- Healthcare Transparency Act – no action taken
HB
2273
- Assignment of Benefits – no action taken in House
HB
2417
- Kansas Dental Board makeup - no action taken
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 Next Week!
Board
delegates and alternate delegates should contact the KDA office
to record their availability to attend the Board of Delegates
meeting on Thursday, March 15 during
UMKC’s Midwest Dental Conference in the Hyatt’s Empire C
room starting at
1:30 P.M.
All delegates were emailed materials for the meeting last
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.
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.
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 was held this past week 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.
A hearing is scheduled on
Monday, March 12.
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 was held this past
week. The Committee
is expected to “work” this bill on Wednesday, March 14.
The provisions of HB 2215 are now in this bill.
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 was held this past
week. HB 2216 was passed
by the Committee and placed on the Senate’s consent calendar.
HB
2530
would
explicitly exempt
healthcare providers from the
Kansas Consumer Protection
Act (KCPA) 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 House Committee on
Judiciary amended HB 2530 recommended the bill favorably for
passage after first amending it to clarify that healthcare
providers were exempt from the KCPA for matters concerning
“professional judgment”, but not front office practices such as
billing and advertising.
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”
though no action had been taken.
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 House Committee on
Utilities has recommended this bill favorably for passage.
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.
A hearing is scheduled in the House Committee on
Insurance and Financial Institutions on Monday, March 12.
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 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.
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”.
|
