BILL NUMBER: AB 2390 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 347
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 30, 2004
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 27, 2004
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 12, 2004
PASSED THE SENATE JULY 29, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 7, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 12, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Reyes and Chan
FEBRUARY 19, 2004
An act to amend Sections 1657, 1658, and 1658.2 of, and to add
Section 1625.1 to, the Business and Professions Code, relating to the
healing arts.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2390, Reyes. Dentistry.
(1) Existing law, the Dental Practice Act, provides for the
licensure and regulation by the Dental Board of California of those
engaged in the practice of dentistry. Existing law provides that a
person practices dentistry if the person, among other things, manages
or conducts as manager, proprietor, conductor, lessor, or otherwise,
in any place where dental operations are performed.
This bill would exclude from the unlicensed practice of dentistry
certain clinics and other entities that own or manage places where
dental operations are performed if they comply with various
requirements.
(2) Existing law authorizes a dentist to operate one mobile dental
clinic or unit that is registered and operated in accordance with
regulations adopted by the board. Existing law also imposes
specified registration requirements on a dentist who maintains
additional places of practice. Other provisions of existing law, the
Mobile Health Care Services Act, require, subject to specified
exemptions, licensure by the State Department of Health Services to
operate a mobile service unit.
This bill would exempt certain mobile service units from the
provisions of the Dental Practice Act that regulate mobile dental
clinics or units and additional places of practice.
(3) Existing law requires a dentist who desires to have more than
one place of practice to pay a fee to, and receive permission in
writing from, the board prior to opening an additional place of
practice. This requirement does not apply to a dentist who also
practices in certain primary and specialty care clinics.
This bill would further exempt from this requirement a dentist who
also practices in clinics operated by the federal government, a
federally recognized Indian tribe, or a community clinic open for
limited services no more than 20 hours per week. The bill would make
corresponding changes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1625.1 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
1625.1. (a) Any of the following entities may employ licensees
and dental assistants and charge for the professional services they
render, and shall not be deemed to be practicing dentistry within the
meaning of Section 1625:
(1) A primary care clinic that is licensed pursuant to subdivision
(a) of Section 1204 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) A primary care clinic that is exempt from licensure pursuant
to subdivision (b), (c), or (h) of Section 1206 of the Health and
Safety Code.
(3) A clinic owned or operated by a public hospital or health
system.
(4) A clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the
primary contract with a county government to fill the county's role
under Section 17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(b) The entities described in subdivision (a) shall not interfere
with, control, or otherwise direct the professional judgment of a
licensee or dental assistant acting within his or her scope of
practice as defined in this chapter. A requirement that licensees
shall constitute all or a percentage of the governing body of the
entity shall not be applicable to these entities.
SEC. 2. Section 1657 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
1657. (a) A licensed dentist may operate one mobile dental clinic
or unit registered as a dental office or facility. The mobile
dental clinic or unit shall be registered and operated in accordance
with regulations established by the board, provided these regulations
are not designed to prevent or lessen competition in service areas.
A mobile dental clinic or unit registered and operated in accordance
with the board's regulations and that has paid the fees established
by the board, including a mobile dental unit registered for the
purpose specified in subdivision (d), shall otherwise be exempted
from this article and Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 1658).
(b) A mobile service unit, as defined in subdivision (b) of
Section 1765.105 of the Health and Safety Code, and a mobile unit
operated by an entity that is exempt from licensure pursuant to
subdivision (b), (c), or (h) of Section 1206 of the Health and Safety
Code, are exempt from this article and Article 3.5 (commencing with
Section 1658). Notwithstanding this exemption, the owner or operator
of the mobile unit shall notify the board within 60 days of the date
on which dental services are first delivered in the mobile unit, or
the date on which the mobile unit's application pursuant to Section
1765.130 of the Health and Safety Code is approved, whichever is
earlier.
(c) A licensee practicing in a mobile unit described in
subdivision (b) is not subject to subdivision (a) as to that mobile
unit.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 1625, a licensed dentist shall be
permitted to operate a mobile dental unit provided by his or her
property and casualty insurer as a temporary substitute site for the
practice registered by him or her pursuant to Section 1650 as long as
both of the following apply:
(1) The licensed dentist's registered place of practice has been
rendered and remains unusable due to loss or calamity.
(2) The licensee's insurer registers the unit with the board in
compliance with subdivision (a).
SEC. 3. Section 1658 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
1658. (a) When a licensee desires to have more than one place of
practice, he or she shall, prior to the opening of the additional
office, apply to the board, pay the fee required by this chapter, and
receive permission in writing from the board to have the additional
place of practice.
"Place of practice" means any dental office where any act of
dentistry is practiced as defined by Section 1625, and includes a
place of practice in which the applicant holds any proprietary
interest of any nature whatsoever, or in which he holds any right to
participate in the management or control thereof. A dentist who is
the lessor of a dental office shall not be deemed to hold a
proprietary interest in that place of practice, unless he is entitled
to participate in the management or control of the dentistry
practiced there.
(b) This section shall not apply to a licensee who practices
dentistry outside his or her registered place of practice in any of
the following places:
(1) Facilities licensed by the State Department of Health
Services.
(2) Licensed health facilities as defined in Section 1250 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(3) Clinics that are licensed under subdivision (a) of Section
1204 of, or that are exempt from licensure under subdivisions (b),
(c), or (h) of Section 1206 of, the Health and Safety Code.
(4) Licensed community care facilities as defined in Section 1502
of the Health and Safety Code.
(5) Schools of any grade level, whether public or private.
(6) Public institutions including, but not limited to, federal,
state, and local penal and correctional facilities.
(7) Mobile units which are operated by a public or governmental
agency or a nonprofit or charitable organization and are approved by
the board, provided that the mobile units meet all statutory or
regulatory requirements.
(8) The home of a nonambulatory patient when a physician or
registered nurse has provided a written note that the patient is
unable to visit a dental office.
SEC. 4. Section 1658.2 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
1658.2. (a) "Additional place of practice," as used in this
article, means any place of practice that increases the number of
places of practice of the applicant, and includes an additional
office that the applicant proposes to originally establish, either
individually or in association with another, as well as an
established place of practice that the applicant acquires or proposes
to acquire, in whole or in part, by purchase, repossession,
reassignment, gift, devise, bequest, or operation of law, except as
otherwise provided in this article.
(b) A practice location described in subdivision (b) of Section
1658 does not constitute an additional place of practice.