COVID-19 Information and FAQs

Practice Support and Risk Management are receiving calls from member dentists concerned about how the pandemic is affecting daily business operations. To ensure all member concerns are addressed, CDA has compiled the most recent, commonly asked questions from member dentists about reducing employee hours and wages, managing delinquent accounts, patient dismissals and more.

Dental practice owners should be prepared for major changes to the California Family Rights Act. The changes take effect Jan. 1, 2021, and will impact very small businesses who will soon be required to provide 12 workweeks of job-protected unpaid family leave benefits to eligible employees annually. 

From regulatory compliance requirements to office celebrations, CDA has curated a list of things to do before the end of the year to help practice owners and dental teams focus their efforts in preparation for 2021.

Dental practice schedules and production have certainly been a rollercoaster in 2020. As we near the end of the year, many practices are reporting a slight decline in patient volume compared to the third quarter. 

As team members begin making holiday plans with friends and family, practice owners may be concerned about whether employees are following COVID-19 safety precautions outside of the workplace and what affect it could have on the dental practice.

The manufacturer of a decontamination system used to decontaminate certain N95 respirators for health care personnel received a warning notice last week from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for “failure to comply with regulatory requirements for medical device reporting.”

With the presidential election just weeks away, practice owners should understand their legal obligations to accommodate employees on election day. In California, employers are required to provide up to two hours of paid time off to employees who do not have enough time outside of work to vote. 

The American Dental Association has released a COVID-19 & Lab Testing Requirements Toolkit to aid dentists who are interested in incorporating rapid point-of-care testing in their practice. To assist members with California-specific requirements, CDA’s Clinical Care Workgroup will release additional POC testing guidance next month.

Two COVID-19 response bills related to employee notification and workers’ compensation were signed last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom and affect dental practice owners. 

Very small businesses, including dental practices with just five or more employees, will soon be subject to the California Family Rights Act’s requirement to provide protected unpaid family leave to their employees.