Article Details

“I see CDA now and into the future as being limitless in what we can produce and do for our members.” While reflecting on CDA’s momentous milestone of 150 years in organized dentistry, Richard Nagy, DDS, president of the California Dental Association, looks ahead — optimistic about what’s next for the organization and its 27,000 members.

Dentists now have a new resource they can use to work with their physician colleagues to improve oral health. The American Academy of Pediatrics developed an Oral Health Prevention Primer to help pediatricians and other medical professionals identify patients with oral health needs in their practice, collaborate with oral health allies and advocate to prevent dental disease.

CDA-sponsored legislation that further increases dental plan transparency became law on Jan. 1. AB 954 requires dental plans to be more transparent about the leasing of dental networks. The new law will reduce patient and dentist confusion caused by the increasing number of plans leasing their networks to other payers, many times unbeknownst to the enrollee or contracted dentist(s). The law took effect for contracts entered into on or after Jan. 1, 2020.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget continues the commitment to increasing access to dental services and improving the health of vulnerable Californians. State investments in Medi-Cal over recent years have made it a more sustainable program for dentists and resulted in increased utilization of dental services.

Paul Reggiardo, DDS, executive director of the California Society of Pediatric Dentistry, spoke recently with Miguel Padilla, DMD, one of 38 dentists who received a CalHealthCares student loan repayment in 2019.

Health care providers can expect to see major revisions to the Medi-Cal program over the next couple of years as a result of a new initiative by the Department of Health Care Services. Released in late October, the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) proposal will implement “broader delivery system, program and payment reform across the Medi-Cal Program,” according to the proposal summary.

Improvements to the Medi-Cal Dental program continue with new options for dentists who treat Medi-Cal members, including the ability to provide fluoride treatment and fluoride varnish as a benefit once every four months for patients under age 6. The increase in the benefit periodicity underscores the state’s commitment to regular preventive oral health visits for young children in California.

Direct-to-consumer orthodontic patients will gain new protections when CDA-supported Assembly Bill 1519 becomes the law in January 2020. The first of its kind in the nation, the new law will protect patients from DTC orthodontic companies that are putting profits before patients by taking potentially unsafe shortcuts to the accepted standards of care.

California dentists who are willing to relocate, expand or establish a new practice to an area of highest patient need and commit to serving Medi-Cal beneficiaries for at least 10 years can apply in January 2020 to receive up to $300,000 in grant funding through the state’s CalHealthCares program to support related costs.