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SPONSOR: |
SPAC |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
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SHORT TITLE: |
NM Board of Dentistry Changes |
SB |
CS453/aSFl#1/aSFl#2 |
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ANALYST: |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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See Narrative |
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REVENUE
Estimated Revenue |
Subsequent Years Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
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Indeterminate |
Recurring |
OSF |
Relates to:
HB 145, SB 408, SB 173, SB 450
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Responses
Received From
Regulation
& Licensing (RLD)
Health
Policy Commission (HPC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of SFl Amendment #2
Synopsis of SFl Amendment #1
The
Senate Floor Amendment #1 lowers the penalty for a person who attempts to
practice as a dental hygienist without a license to a misdemeanor and lowers
the sentence to less than one year’s imprisonment or $1,000 fine or both.
Synopsis
of Original Bill
The Senate Public
Affairs Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 453 amends the Dental Health Care
Act to expand licensing provisions, amend Board of Dental Health Care rule
making authority and extends the sunset date.
SB 453/SPACS amends a section of the Impaired Dentists and Dental
Hygienists Act, clarifies definitions and performs language clean up.
SB 453/SPACS
specifically does the following:
· Authorizes the BD to grant licenses to non-dentist owners of dental practices and corporate entities employing or contracting with dentists or dental hygienists. These entities will also be subject to discipline by the BD.
·
Allows existing nonprofit organizations
performing dental and dental hygiene services for indigent persons to function
as a non-dentist owner without a
·
Exempts
dental assisting students from dental licensing requirements while under the supervision
of a faculty member who is a licensed dentist.
·
Reorganizes
districts and clarifies the term limits for BD members and specifies that
members of the board who are not also members of the disciplinary committee may
not attend committee disciplinary hearings.
·
Increases
the number of members on the New Mexico Dental Hygienist Committee from seven
to nine, by increasing the number of dentist and public members to 2 in each
category.
·
Empowers
the BD to collect demographic data necessary to serve its needs, and to make
composite reports of said data available to the public. Public access to individual names, addresses,
license numbers and license actions is limited.
·
Tightens
the requirements for general and specialty licensure by credentials by requiring
that the applicant have no dental board actions within the previous five years.
·
Tightens
the requirements for dental hygienist licensure by credential by requiring that
the applicant’s license be in good standing for the two previous years in
another state.
·
Establishes
licensure requirements for non-dentist owners in
·
Establishes
processes by which a dentist or dental hygienist may place his or her license
in an inactive status, establishes as three the number of years inactive
licenses are valid and describes the process of reactivating a license.
·
Increases
the penalties and designates as a fourth degree felony any person who practices
or functions without a license as a dental hygienist or non-dentist owner.
·
Increase
some fees for licensure of dentists and dental hygienists, and to establish the
licensure fees for non-dentist owners and for renewal of inactive licenses.
·
Includes
language stipulating confidentiality of data and communications regarding complaints,
communications or disciplinary action, except for cases made to law enforcement,
national database clearinghouses or other licensing boards.
·
Significant
Issues
The New Mexico Board of Dental Health Care/ New
Mexico Dental Hygienist Committee in collaboration with the New Mexico Dental
Association and the New Mexico Dental Hygienists Association worked towards a
unified statute. SB 453/SPACS is the result.
Licensure of the “non-dentist owner” allows for
the BD and the committee to require individuals or entities not licensed as a
dentist in
Allowing existing nonprofit
organizations performing dental and dental hygiene services for indigent
persons to function as a non-dentist owner without a
Inactive status of a license will afford
licensees the opportunity to place their retired license in an inactive
status. Inactive licensees may not
engage in any activities contained within the scope of practice of dentistry or
dental hygiene. If so desired an
inactive licensee may request his license be reinstated to active license
within nine years or the inactive license will be retired permanently. Currently statute only allows a license to
retire his license.
Practicing without a license for the practice of
Dental Hygiene currently is only punishable as a misdemeanor. Concurrently
practicing Dentistry without a license is punishable by law to a fourth decree
felony. Allowing the practice of Dental
Hygiene to be punishable to a fourth degree felony would align the practices
accordingly.
The Dentist and Dental Hygienist licensure
requirement of having an active license in good standing prior to application
provides acceptable standards by which the public of
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Revenues
initially earned will cover any cost associated with implementation of the
Non-Dentist Owners and inactive licensees.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Non-dentist owners and inactive license types.
May result in the need for another FTE to manage and process the licensee base.
RELATIONSHIP
SB 453/SPACS relates to:
HB 145 extends the sunset dates for affected
boards, including the BD..
SB 408 appropriates $100,000 in general fund to
the DOH for fiscal year 2004 to provide rural portable dental clinics for
children.
SB 173 appropriates $1,200,000 from the general
fund to the DOH in fiscal year 2004 to contract with rural primary health care
and dental clinics to leverage federal dollars at newly established or expanded
clinic sites.
SB 450 appropriates $669,000 from the general
fund to the public health division of the DOH in fiscal year 2004 to provide
community dental health services.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
RLD has suggested the following:
Section 61-5A-26.currently reads: “Payment out
of the board fund shall be on vouchers issued and signed by the
secretary-treasurer of the board upon warrants drawn by the department of finance
and administration in accordance with the budget approved by that
department.” This language should be
deleted because it is inconsistent with RLD’s
internal financial control and signature authority procedures.
New language could read: “Payment out of the
board of dentistry fund shall be on vouchers issued and signed by the
superintendent of the regulation and licensing department or his designee upon
warrants drawn by the department of finance and administration in accordance
with the budget approved by that department.