BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1570|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1570
Author: Salas (D)
Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 8-0, 7/1/10
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Aanestad, Calderon, Corbett, Correa,
Florez, Walters, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 8/2/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Ashburn, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk,
Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson, Walters
SUBJECT : Dentistry: malpractice insurance: volunteer
dentists
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Dental Board of
California, in conjunction with the Health Professions
Education Foundation, to study the issue of the Board
providing malpractice insurance to dentists who provide
voluntary, unpaid services, and report its findings to the
Legislature on or before January 1, 2012.
ANALYSIS :
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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 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
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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. Allows the DBC to expend funds from the Dentally
Underserved Account to fund the study, and allows the
DBC to contract with an independent entity to conduct
the study.
4. Requires this bill to comply with existing submission
requirements.
5. Repeals the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2016.
Similar/Prior Legislation
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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 HPEF, 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.
Study Completed by the MBC on Physician Volunteerism and
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.
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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. Senate Business, Professions and
Economic Development 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Malpractice insurance study $50 $50
Special*
* Dentally Underserved Account in the State Dentistry
Fund
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
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.
JJA:mw 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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