Amended in Assembly April 11, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 30, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2485

Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago

February 19, 2016

An act to repeal Article 9.5 (commencing with Section 1970) of Chapter 4 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, and to amend Section 128345 of, and to add Article 7 (commencing with Section 128587) to Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 107 of, the Health and Safety Code, relating to dentistry.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2485, as amended, Santiago. Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Existing law establishes the Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program of 2002 within the Dental Board of California. Existing law creates the Dentally Underserved Account within the State Dentistry Fund. The program assists dentists who practice in an underserved area with loan repayment pursuant to an agreement between the board and the dentist, as specified.

This bill would repeal those provisions and instead transfer the authority to implement the program to the Health Professions Education Foundation within the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development and would rename the account the Dental Corps Loan Repayment Account. The bill would make funds in the account available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program. The bill would require the foundation to submit a report to the begin insert Dental Board of California and the end insert Legislature by begin delete January 1, 2019. end delete begin insert July 1, 2018. end insert The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of
the following:

(a) An adequate supply of dentists is critical to assuring the
health and well-being of California residents, particularly those
who live in medically underserved areas.

(b) It is in the best interest of the state and its residents that
dental services be provided throughout the state in a manner that
can be effectively accessed by the residents of all communities.

(c) The Dental Board of California has established the California
Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program of 2002 to improve access
to dental care for underserved populations.

(d) The Health Professions Education Foundation, established
in 1987, is the state’s only nonprofit foundation statutorily created
to encourage persons from underserved communities to become
health professionals and increase access to health providers in
medically underserved areas.

(e) The foundation improves access to health care in underserved
areas by providing scholarships, loan repayments, and programs
to health professional students and graduates who are dedicated
to providing direct patient care in those areas.

(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to move the California
Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program of 2002 from the Dental
Board of California to the Health Professions Education Foundation
within the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

SEC. 2.  

Article 9.5 (commencing with Section 1970) of Chapter
4 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code is repealed.

SEC. 3.  

Section 128345 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:

128345.  

The Health Professions Education Foundation may
do any of the following:

(a) Solicit and receive funds from business, industry,
foundations, and other private or public sources for the purpose
of providing financial assistance in the form of scholarships or
loans to African-American students, Native American students,
Hispanic-American students, and other students from
underrepresented groups. These funds shall be expended by the
office after transfer to the Health Professions Education Fund,
created pursuant to Section 128355.

(b) Recommend to the director the disbursement of private
sector moneys deposited in the Health Professions Education Fund
to students from underrepresented groups accepted to or enrolled
in schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, or other health
professions in the form of loans or scholarships.

(c) Recommend to the director a standard contractual agreement
to be signed by the director and any participating student, that
would require a period of obligated professional service in the
areas in California designated by the commission as deficient in
primary care services. The agreement shall include a clause
entitling the state to recover the funds awarded plus the maximum
allowable interest for failure to begin or complete the service
obligation.

(d) Develop criteria for evaluating the likelihood that applicants
for scholarships or loans would remain to practice their profession
in designated areas deficient in primary care services.

(e) Develop application forms, which shall be disseminated to
students from underrepresented groups interested in applying for
scholarships or loans.

(f) Encourage private sector institutions, including hospitals,
community clinics, and other health agencies to identify and
provide educational experiences to students from underrepresented
groups who are potential applicants to schools of medicine,
dentistry, nursing, or other health professions.

(g) Prepare and submit an annual report to the office
documenting the amount of money solicited from the private sector,
the number of scholarships and loans awarded, the enrollment
levels of students from underrepresented groups in schools of
medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other health professions, and the
projected need for scholarships and loans in the future.

(h) Recommend to the director that a portion of the funds
solicited from the private sector be used for the administrative
requirements of the foundation.

(i) Implement the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan
Repayment Program and the Volunteer Physician Program, as
provided under Article 5 (commencing with Section 128550).

(j) Implement the California Dental Corps Loan Repayment
Program, as provided under Article 7 (commencing with Section
128587) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 107.

SEC. 4.  

Article 7 (commencing with Section 128587) is added
to Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

 

Article 7.  California Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program

 

128587.  

(a) There is hereby established the California Dental
Corps Loan Repayment Program within the Health Professions
Education Foundation within the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article that
the foundation and the office provide the ongoing program
management for the program.

128587.2.  

For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:

(a) “Account” means the Dentally Underserved Account, which
is contained within the fund.

(b) “Board” means the Dental Board of California.

(c) “Dentally underserved area” means a geographic area eligible
to be designated as having a shortage of dental professionals
pursuant to Part I of Appendix B to Part 5 of Chapter 1 of Title 42
of the Code of Federal Regulations or an area of the state in which
unmet priority needs for dentists exist as determined by the
California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission pursuant to
Section 128224.

(d) “Dentally underserved population” means persons without
dental insurance and persons eligible for Denti-Cal who are
population groups described as having a shortage of dental care
professionals in Part I of Appendix B to Part 5 of Chapter 1 of
Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e) “Fund” means the State Dentistry Fund.

(f) “Medi-Cal threshold languages” means primary languages
spoken by limited-English-proficient (LEP) population groups
meeting a numeric threshold of 3,000, eligible LEP Medi-Cal
beneficiaries residing in a county, 1,000 Medi-Cal eligible LEP
beneficiaries residing in a single ZIP Code, or 1,500 LEP Medi-Cal
beneficiaries residing in two contiguous ZIP Codes.

(g) “Office” means the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development.

(h) “Program” means the California Dental Corps Loan
Repayment Program.

(i) “Practice setting” means either of the following:

(1) A community clinic, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section
1204 and subdivision (c) of Section 1206, a clinic owned or
operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned
and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with
a county government to fulfill the county’s role pursuant to Section
17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which is located in a
dentally underserved area.

(2) A dental practice or dental corporation, as defined in Section
1800 of the Business and Professions Code, located in a dentally
underserved area or at least 50 percent of whose patients are from
a dentally underserved population.

128587.4.  

(a) A program applicant shall possess a current
valid license to practice dentistry in this state issued by the board
pursuant to Section 1626 of the Business and Professions Code,
or be currently eligible for graduation from a pre- or postdoctoral
dental education program approved by the board or the
Commission on Dental Accreditation and meet all criteria for
licensure subject to successful completion of applicable education
and examination requirements.

(b) The foundation shall develop the guidelines for selection
and placement of applicants.

(1) The guidelines shall provide priority consideration to
applicants who are best suited to meet the cultural and linguistic
needs and demands of dentally underserved populations and who
meet one or more of the following criteria:

(A) Speak a Medi-Cal threshold language.

(B) Come from an economically disadvantaged background.

(C) Have received significant training in cultural and
linguistically appropriate service delivery.

(D) Have worked in a health field in an underserved area or
with an underserved population.

(E) Recently received a license to practice dentistry.

(F) Have received an offer for employment from a practice
setting.

(2) The guidelines shall include a process for determining the
needs for dental services identified by the practice setting. At a
minimum, the practice setting shall be located in a dentally
underserved area.

(3) The guidelines shall seek to place the most qualified
applicants under this section in the areas with the greatest need.

(c) A program applicant shall be working in, or have a signed
agreement with, an eligible practice setting. The program
participant shall be employed on a full-time basis. Full-time basis
shall be defined by the begin delete board, end delete begin insert foundation, end insert and the begin delete board end delete begin insert foundation end insert
may establish exemptions to this requirement on a case-by-case
basis.

(d) A program participant shall commit to a minimum of three
years of service in one or more practice settings. The foundation
shall develop the process for determining the maximum length of
an absence and the process for reinstatement of a participant. Loan
repayment shall be deferred until the dentist is employed on a
full-time basis.

(e) The foundation shall develop a process to use if a dentist is
not able to complete his or her three-year obligation.

(f) The foundation shall develop a process for outreach to
potentially eligible applicants.

(g) The foundation may adopt any other standards of eligibility,
placement, and termination appropriate to achieve the aim of
providing competent dental services in these approved practice
settings.

128587.6  

(a) The Dentally Underserved Account, formerly
established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1973 of the
Business and Professions Code, in the State Dentistry Fund in the
Professions and Vocations Fund in the State Treasury is hereby
renamed the Dental Corps Loan Repayment Account and
established by this section in the State Dentistry Fund.

(b) (1) Funds placed in the account shall be available upon
appropriation by the Legislature.

(2) Funds in the account shall be used by the foundation to repay
the loans per agreements made with dentists.

(3) Funds paid out for loan repayment may have a funding match
from foundations or other private sources.

(4) Loan repayments shall not exceed a total of one hundred
five thousand dollars ($105,000) per individual licensed dentist.

(5) Notwithstanding Section 11005 of the Government Code,
the foundation may seek and receive funds from foundations and
private sources to be placed into the account.

128587.8.  

The terms of loan repayment granted under this
article shall be as follows:

(a) After a program participant has completed six months of
providing services on a full-time basis in a practice setting, the
foundation shall provide up to thirty-five thousand dollars
($35,000) for loan repayment.

(b) After a program participant has completed 18 consecutive
months of providing services on a full-time basis in a practice
setting, the foundation shall provide up to an additional thirty-five
thousand dollars ($35,000) of loan repayment, for a total loan
repayment of up to seventy thousand dollars ($70,000).

(c) After a program participant has completed 30 consecutive
months of providing services on a full-time basis in a practice
setting, the foundation shall provide up to a maximum of thirty-five
thousand dollars ($35,000) of loan repayment, for a total loan
repayment of up to one hundred five thousand dollars ($105,000),
but not to exceed the total outstanding amount of the loan.

128587.9.  

(a) On or before begin delete January 1, 2019, end delete begin insert July 1, 2018, end insert the
foundation shall submit a report to the begin insert board and the end insert Legislature
regarding the experience of the program, an evaluation of its
effectiveness in improving access to dental care for underserved
populations, and recommendations for maintaining or expanding
its operation, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Number of program participants.

(2) Practice locations.

(3) Amount of funds expended.

(4) The information on annual performance reviews by practice
settings and program participants.

(b) The report to the Legislature pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code.

(c) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed on begin delete January 1, 2023. end delete begin insert July 1, 2022. end insert