BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|Hearing Date:June 10, 2013 |Bill No:AB |
| |836 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Ted W. Lieu, Chair
Bill No: AB 836Author:Skinner
As Amended:April 9, 2013 Fiscal: Yes
SUBJECT: Dentists: continuing education.
SUMMARY: Reduces the continuing education (CE) units required by the
Dental Board of California (DBC), for retired dentists who solely
provide uncompensated care, from 50 CE units biannually to 30 CE units
biannually.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the DBC to license and regulate the practice of
dentistry. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) § 1601.1)
2)Establishes an active and inactive retired dentist license. (BPC §
1716.1)
3)Authorizes the DBC to reduce the renewal fee for registered active
dentists by up to one half. (BPC § 1716.1(a))
4)Requires dentists to complete 50 CE units for each biannual license
renewal cycle. (16 California Code of Regulations (CCR) § 1017)
5)Requires CE providers to be registered with DBC. (BPC § 1645)
6)Permits, until January 1, 2014, out-of-state medical practitioners
with valid, current and active licenses to participate in sponsored
free health care events in California. (BPC § 901)
This bill:
1)Prohibits the DBC from requiring more than 60 percent of hours of
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continuing education that is required of other licensed dentists for
retired dentists who provide uncompensated care.
2)Specifies that the DBC report on the outcome of the decreased CE
units for retired dentists who provide uncompensated care during the
sunset review process.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
Analysis dated April 17, 2013, the fiscal effect includes minor and
absorbable costs for reporting on the CE provision as part of the
DBC's regular sunset review process.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the California Dental Association
(Sponsor). According to the Author, "AB 836 is intended to reduce
the barriers retired dentists face in providing volunteer dental
care. The continuing education requirements for retired dentists
who meet certain criteria would be adjusted from 50 CE hours every
two years to 30 hours every two years to better meet the practice
needs of experienced dentists providing only voluntary care."
2.Background. Retired Inactive Licenses . Dentists who wish to retire
may apply for inactive licenses. Holders of an inactive license
continue to pay biennial renewal fees to the DBC, but are not
subject to CE requirements. Further, the inactive licensees are
ineligible to offer dental services or prescribe medication.
Retired Active Licenses . Dentists who apply for a retired active
license pay reduced renewal fees. They are also eligible to
continue offering dental services. The requirements for applying
for a retired active license include:
a) The applicant must demonstrate they have practiced dentistry
in California for 20 years or more.
b) The applicant must have reached the age of retirement under
the federal Social Security Act.
c) The applicant must provide services for free or for a nominal
charge to any person, organization or agency. In no event shall
the aggregate of these charges in any single calendar year be in
an amount that would render the applicant ineligible for full
social security benefits.
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d) If the applicant qualifies for the retired active license, and
their prior license is expired, the applicant is still subject to
pay all accrued renewal and delinquency fees before their license
is renewed.
e) The applicant must complete 50 hours of continuing education
every two years, and pay the reduced license renewal fee.
Continuing Education . Current law requires both retired active and
active licensees to complete 50 hours of CE units. Both the retired
active and active licensees are also required to complete two hours
of coursework in infection control, two hours on the California
Dental Practice Act and a maximum of four hours in Basic Life
Support.
Other States . Across the nation, states require that dentists
complete CE units, ranging from 25 to 50 hours, every two years.
According to information provided by the author's office, California
is one of five states including: Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and
Kansas that do not offer reduced CE unit requirements for retired
dentists.
3.Arguments in Support. The California Dental Association (Sponsor)
supports the bill. They state in their letter, "Most other states
have acted to reduce barriers for retired dentists to provide
volunteer care, and several states have specifically adjusted CE
requirements for retired dentist volunteers. California has one of
the highest CE requirements of any state and adjusting the CLE units
for retired dentists- from 50 CE units to 30 CE units for a two-year
licensure renewal cycle- would bring California's requirement for
retired volunteer dentists in line with the requirement for actively
practicing dentists in nearly half of the other states."
The California Society of Pediatric Dentistry also supports the
bill. In their letter they write, "Many dentists who have retired
from active practice and still wish to contribute to the public good
provide donated dental services to disadvantaged Californians in a
variety of healthcare settings including free dental clinics, local
community health centers, and children's programs such as WIC and
Head Start. This charitable work improves the oral health of a
variety of dentally-underserved populations, including children from
low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, veterans and
individuals with developmental disabilities."
The Children's Partnership states their support for the bill when
they write, "Retired dentists are an underutilized resource for
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providing care to underserved children and other populations. Many
retired dentists are interested in providing free care to the
neediest in their communities, but face barriers, including the
amount of continuing education required to maintain an active
California dental license. Reducing the CE barrier is an important
effort to optimize this highly experienced and willing resource for
underserved communities."
4.Support if Amended. The California Academy of General Dentistry
notes in their letter, "We believe that continuous lifelong learning
is an important part of maintaining clinical competence. Many of
our members participate in free dental clinics and are aware that
fairly sophisticated services are provided. These include
endodontic therapy, complex oral surgical procedures and fairly
complex restorative procedures with basic restorative materials?We
feel that continued clinical competence is just as important in free
care situations as for regular practices?We would like you to
consider requiring that the reduced number of hours of continuing
education be restricted to all Category A subjects. With that
consideration, the CAGD can fully support this thoughtful effort to
increase access to care for Californians."
5.Prior Related Legislation. AB 1428 (Aanestad, Chapter 507, Statutes
of 2001) permitted the DBC to grant a license to practice dentistry
to applicants licensed to practice dentistry in another state for at
least five years without taking the licensure examination.
AB 2821 (Knight, Chapter 400, Statutes of 1994) authorized the DBC to
require licensees to complete a portion of the required continuing
education by taking a certain number of hours of coursework in
specific areas adopted in regulations by the DBC.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
California Dental Association (Sponsor)
California Society of Pediatric Dentistry
The Children's Partnership
Support If Amended:
California Academy of General Dentistry
Opposition:
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None on file as of May 30, 2013.
Consultant:Le Ondra Clark, Ph.D.