and prepare for a tad more success next year, in that regard. Following is a list of the bills we had high hopes for up until the last week of Session, a brief description of each, and the final outcome.
Adult Dental Medicaid: Includes some restorative and preventive measures which almost exactly mirror what was in last year’s budget, as well as a 3 percent provider increase. Rumored to go into effect by January 1, 2016. SIGNED.
Tax Amnesty Fund: Allows for the allocation of monies collected by tax amnesty to be used for limited adult dental benefits and provider increases in addition to what is already included in the budget. SIGNED.
Medical Malpractice/Award Caps: Caps the awards for non-catastrophic injuries to a patient/plaintiff at $400,000 and $700,000 for catastrophic injuries and/ or death. SIGNED.
MO Medicaid Audit and Compliance: Stipulated that MMAC must notify providers of any changes in the interpre- tation or application of reimbursement requirements. AWAITS GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE.
Insurance Provider Reform: Stipulated that insurance companies had 90 days to change their membership materials when notified by a provider of a status change and had to update their mem- bership materials annually. FAILED.
CBCT/Panoramic X-ray Systems: Changed the current requirement of a yearly inspection of equipment to once every six years. FAILED.
Community Water Fluoridation: Re- quired public water works systems to notify their customers at least 90 days prior to a vote to either implement or cease fluoridation. FAILED.
Telehealth/Teledentistry: Allowed for MO HealthNet providers to be reim- bursed for teledentistry services which they are already reimbursed for in- person services, and for reimbursement for the use of asynchronous store-and- forward technology. FAILED. f
CONTACT KATIE REICHARD, MDA Legislative & Regulatory Director, at
katie@modentalmail.org.
Request for Comments ADA Sedation and Anesthesia Guidelines, due June 29, 2015
T
he ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure requests comments on proposed revisions to the “ADA Guidelines for the Use of Sedation and General Anesthesia by Dentists” and the “Guidelines for Teaching Pain Control and Sedation to Dentists and Dental Students.” The documents can be accessed at
www.ada.org/ en/member-center/oral-health-topics/anesthesia-and-sedation. The Council and its Committee on Anesthesiology will consider all comments received by June 29, 2015 and determine whether proposed revisions should be forwarded to the 2015 ADA House of Delegates. Questions may be directed to
JasekJ@ada.org.
EPA Postpones Amalgam Separator Rule T
he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will delay releasing a final amalgam separator rule until the summer, according to a May 14 Bloomberg BNA media
report. The ADA is encouraged by the EPA’s willingness to work with the profession as it develops its rule. In February the Association commented on a draft of the rule by noting that the ADA’s support “is contingent only on the final rule complying with nine common-sense principles” and reaffirming its “support of a pretreatment rule that requires amalgam separators consistent with these nine principles.” The Asso- ciation remains hopeful that EPA will incorporate its suggestions in a final rule which the Association can support. The ADA has long supported amalgam separators, and their use is widespread. For more information, visit
ADA.org.
Supreme Court: Health Care Providers No Standing to Challenge Medicaid Rates
T
he U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Care Center that health care providers do not have standing to compel a state to raise Med- icaid reimbursement rates alleged to be inadequate under the Medicaid Act.
The case arose when a health care provider in Idaho sought a federal court injunc- tion to require the state to increase its rates consistent with the stated intent of the Act to provide access to quality care and medical services, “at least to the extent that such care and services are available to the general public in the [relevant] geo- graphic area.”
The ADA, American Medical Association and other health care associations had filed an amicus brief in support of the health care provider, arguing that Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the clause making federal law the supreme law of the land, created a private right of action that permitted the plaintiffs to seek the requested relief. The Court ruled, however, that the plaintiffs did not have standing to pursue their action and held that the only “corrective” remedy provided under the Act was the power of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to withhold federal Medicaid money from Idaho.
The broad language used by the Court on the private remedy issue raises the ques- tion as to whether Medicaid patients will still have the right to challenge state underfunding of Medicaid programs, though potential claimants may argue that the Court’s ruling is not binding precedent as to that particular issue.
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