BILL ANALYSIS
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|Hearing Date:July 1, 2010 |Bill No:AB |
| |1570 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair
Bill No: AB 1570Author:Salas
As Amended:June 29, 2010 Fiscal: Yes
SUBJECT: Dentistry: malpractice insurance: volunteer dentists.
SUMMARY: Requires the Dental Board of California (DBC), in
conjunction with the Health Professions Education Foundation, to study
the issue of the DBC providing malpractice insurance to dentists who
provide voluntary, unpaid services, and report its findings to the
Legislature on or before January 1, 2012.
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Dental Board of California (DBC) to license and
regulate the practice of dentistry, states that the protection of
the public is the priority of the DBC, and imposes various fees on
those licensees.
2) Establishes the California Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program
(dental loan repayment program) which provides loan repayment for
dentists who agree to practice in a dentally underserved area, as
specified.
3) Establishes the Dentally Underserved Account in the State Dentistry
Fund which appropriates moneys for the dental loan repayment
program. Authorizes $3 million to be expended from the State
Dentistry Fund for the dental loan repayment program. States that
the DBC shall distribute money remaining in the Fund until July 1,
2012.
4) Establishes the Health Professions Education Foundation (HPEF),
administered by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development (OSHPD), to solicit and receive funds from various
entities for the purpose of providing financial assistance through
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scholarships or loans to students who agree to practice in
medically underserved areas. Creates within the HPEF the Health
Profession Loan Repayment Program to provide scholarships and loan
repayments for specified health care practitioners, including
dentists, dental hygienists, and nurse practitioners.
5) Creates the "Health Professions Education Fund" (HPE Fund) which
provides scholarships and loans to students from underrepresented
groups who are accepted to or enrolled in schools of medicine,
dentistry, nursing, or other health professions. The HPE Fund is
supported entirely through grants and contributions from public and
private agencies, hospitals, health plans, foundations,
corporations, individuals and through licensing fees of specified
health care practitioners.
6) States that a bill that requires a state agency to submit a report
on any subject to either house of the Legislature generally, a
committee or office of either house of the Legislature, or the
Legislative Counsel Bureau shall include a provision that repeals
the reporting requirement, or makes the requirement inoperative, no
later than four years, as specified.
7) Requires any report required or requested by law to be submitted by
a state or local agency to the Members of either house of the
Legislature generally, to instead be submitted as a printed copy to
both the Legislative Counsel and the Secretary of the Senate, and
as an electronic copy to the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
This bill:
1) Requires the DBC, in conjunction with the HPEF, to study the issue
of the DBC providing malpractice insurance to dentists who provide
voluntary, unpaid services, and report its findings to the
Legislature on or before January 1, 2012.
2) Requires the report specified in item #1) above to include, but not
be limited to, a discussion of the following items:
a) The cost of administering a program to provide malpractice
insurance to the dentists and the process for administering the
program.
b) The options for providing malpractice insurance to the
dentists and for funding the coverage.
3) States that this bill will be implemented only after the
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Legislature has made an appropriation from the State Dentistry Fund
to fund the study.
4) Requires this bill to comply with existing submission requirements.
5) Repeals the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill has been keyed fiscal by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. The Author is the Sponsor of this measure. According to
the Author, California is one of seven remaining states that have
yet to enact any meaningful legislation that protects providers who
render voluntary, unpaid care to patients from paying the high cost
of professional liability insurance. There are currently not enough
volunteer dentists in our state. One of the barriers for dentists
may be the cost of malpractice liability when volunteer dentists
provide uncompensated care. This bill will assist in examining
avenues of promoting greater access to dental care.
2)Background.
a) Similar and Previous Legislation. SB 1031 (Corbett), pending
in the Assembly, creates a "Volunteer Insured Physicians
Program," administered by the Medical Board of California (MBC)
to provide specified medical malpractice insurance coverage to
physicians providing volunteer uncompensated care to patients
pursuant to a contract with a qualified health care entity, as
defined. AB 2342 (Nakanishi, Chapter 276, Statutes of 2006)
required the MBC, in conjunction with the Health Professions
Education Foundation, to study the issue of providing medical
malpractice insurance to physicians who provide voluntary, unpaid
services and report its findings to the Legislature on or before
January 1, 2008.
Note : The Author previously introduced AB 2334 which would have
created the Volunteer Insured Dentists Program administered by
DBC, to provide specified malpractice insurance coverage to
volunteer dentists providing uncompensated care to low-income
patients pursuant to a contract with a qualified health care
entity, as specified. AB 2334 was referred to the Assembly
Health Committee, but the hearing was cancelled by the Author.
b) Study Completed by the MBC on Physician Volunteerism and
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Protecting Physician Volunteers from Medical Malpractice
Liability. As indicated, AB 2342 required the MBC, in
conjunction with the HPEF, to study the issue of providing
medical malpractice insurance to physicians who provide
voluntary, unpaid service. The MBC provided a "Report to Address
Assembly Bill 2342 (2006)" (Report) on December 31, 2008. The
study specifically focused on the options and potential costs of
providing medical malpractice coverage, or funding for medical
malpractice coverage to licensed physicians and surgeons who
volunteer their time to provide uncompensated medical services to
patients. Among other things, the Report evaluated California's
population of patients in need and the medical facilities that
provide care to the uninsured or underinsured, examined the use
of health care volunteers in California, and surveyed other
federal and state laws related to volunteer physician malpractice
liability protections and found several variations in those
programs.
c) Recommend Study Similar to AB 2342 Prior to Implementing
Program. The prior version of this bill would have required the
DBC to administer the Volunteer Insured Dentists Program to
provide malpractice insurance coverage to volunteer dentists
providing uncompensated care to low-income patients. Committee
staff recommended to the Author to instead require a study on
this topic to determine the costs, feasibility, and
administration of the program, similar to the provisions of AB
2342.
3)Arguments in Opposition. The Dental Board of California is opposed
to this measure. DBC points out that providing malpractice
insurance is not within the board's mission. Furthermore, DBC
indicates that licensing fees which are collected from dentists and
dental assistants are used to assist in dental education,
enforcement, education examination, licensing, certification, and
permitting mandates. DBC believes that the utilization of money
from the State Dentistry Fund to support a study, or an effort to
fund malpractice insurance coverage, has the potential to deter from
the Board's mission and take precious resources that are needed to
provide public protection. The implementation of a study or
malpractice insurance program would require increased licensing fees
to avoid a deficit, and the board would require additional staff
resources to conducting research.
4)Proposed Author's Amendments to Address Concerns of the Dental
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Board. The Author would like to amend this bill by making following
changes to address the concerns of the DBC:
a) Require the Dentally Underserved Account in the State
Dentistry Fund to provide funding for the study. The Dental
Corps Loan Repayment Program was established in 2002, to
provide loan repayment assistance to dentists who agree to
practice in dentally underserved areas. The Dentally
Underserved Account was established to fund the loan repayment
program. According to the DBC, approximately $1.5 million is
remaining in the Fund, and as of July 1, 2010, the DBC will
extend the Dental Corps Loan Repayment Program until July 1,
2012.
b) Require the study to be conducted by an independent entity
(contractor). To ensure that the DBC does not have to utilize
staff resources to complete the study, the DBC would be allowed
to contract with an independent entity to conduct the study.
(The former study conducted by the Medical Board was performed
by UC Davis.)
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support: None on file as of June 30, 2010
Opposition: Dental Board of California
Consultant:Rosielyn Pulmano