NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.





F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T





SPONSOR   Coll           DATE TYPED 01/22/99 HB  35         



SHORT TITLE Dentistry Licensing Requirements           SB                 



                                                   ANALYST  Valenzuela     



APPROPRIATION



Estimated

Appropriation Contained   Additional Impact  Recurring Fund

FY99 FY2000 FY99 FY2000 or Non-Rec Affected



$  . $ . $ . $ 25.0 Recurring OSF     



(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)



SOURCES OF INFORMATION



LFC files

Regulation and Licensing Department bill analysis

SUMMARY



Synopsis of Bill



By adding a new section to the Dental Health Care Act (Section 61-5A-16 NMSA 1978), House Bill 35 would require dentists, as a condition of license renewal, to aggressively seek out medicaid recipients and developmentally disabled patients.



Significant Issues



Dental access for Medicaid beneficiaries has been raised as an area of concern over the past year. There is a shortage of dentists and hygienists in the state, thus the ones in practice are selective about the patients they serve. More often than not, this means Medicaid beneficiaries have limited access to dental health services. This bill changes the licensure requirements for dentists to increase access to services for these undeserved populations.



In order to obtain a license renewal, a dentist must prove that they are serving, at a minimum, 10 percent of medicaid recipients and 1 percent of developmentally disabled patients. The dental community, as outlined by the Regulation and Department in its bill analysis, has labeled the bill as discriminatory because it singles out dentists. However, proponents of the bill are pointing to a deficiency that the dental community has not addressed, that being lower income and developmentally disabled persons lack of access to basic dental services.



FISCAL IMPLICATIONS



House Bill 35 does not contain an appropriation. However, the board responsible for implementing the legislation would require additional budget. RLD has indicated that the cost would be $25.0, annually, which would be used for investigations and enforcement. Additionally, the department would require 0.50 FTE.



ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS



Enactment of House Bill 35 would require administrative changes at the Board of Dental Health Care. The board would be required to develop an estimation of the number of medicaid recipients and developmentally disabled patients throughout New Mexico. The board would also need to develop procedures to assess dentist's workloads and outreach programs.



OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES



House Bill 35 provides two exceptions to the new requirement. If dentists are shown to have not met the 10% medicaid recipient and 1 percent developmentally disabled patient requirements, they can be granted a license renewal if the geographical area of the dentist's practice does not support the percentages or if the dentist has in place, an aggressive outreach program.



MV/prr