Gov. Gavin Newsom today laid out a new 2020-21 California budget proposal that slashes billions of dollars in spending in an effort to tackle a massive $54 billion deficit. During the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s revenues plummeted, wiping out the state’s $6 billion surplus.

The following is a statement from Richard Nagy, DDS, president of the California Dental Association.

Given the fiscal situation of California, CDA stands ready to work with the governor’s administration and the state Legislature to find sustainable ways to continue supporting critical oral health access programs such as the Medi-Cal Dental Program and the CalHealthCares Student Loan Repayment Program. One of the significant lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is to not overlook and underfund public health programs, as we know the cost of doing so is tremendous.

The Dentists Insurance Company has announced premium refunds to policyholders in 15 states affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that has severely impacted the practice of dentistry. Shelter-in-place mandates have limited dentistry in many states to the treatment of urgent and emergency patients only.

The art of communication is the language of leadership. In the dental office, open communication between practice owners and staff ensures an efficient workplace, reduces employee turnover, improve job satisfaction and helps mitigate potential employment-related claims.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on April 8 issued a cyberthreat alert on the growing use of COVID-19 related online schemes to steal sensitive information from unsuspecting users, including individuals and organizations.

The April issue of the Journal of the California Dental Association highlights the dentist’s role in sleep-related breathing disorders, including working with the medical community to identify and manage patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

The Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion acts took effect April 1 with clarification on exemptions to the requirements to provide employees with leave for COVID-19-related reasons. Exemptions were clarified for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

California health care providers will be challenged to meet the needs of millions of people during the COVID-19 pandemic, with active cases expected to surpass the medical capability of the state to respond within its normal workforce. Dentists, with their knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and sterile surgical techniques, are invaluable to meet this need.

The U.S. Department of Labor has released the first of periodic guidance to help employers and employees understand their obligations and protections under phase II of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which will take effect April 1. Among other provisions, phase II will require most employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide 12 weeks of protected leave to eligible employees who are unable to work because their child’s school or place of care is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New information continues to surface daily about the health environment, shelter-in-place orders and how dentists should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In step with Gov. Newsom’s new statewide shelter-in-place order issued March 19, we are revising CDA’s recommendation.

Residents of nine counties in California are now under orders to shelter-in-place for three weeks to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The orders took effect the morning of March 17 in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, which currently have the largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state.

“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.

CDA was notified by Delta Dental of California that it will reduce fees for periodontists, endodontists and oral surgeons in its Premier provider network. Delta Dental sent letters to Premier providers to explain changes to its fee structure, which will affect approximately 2,200 specialists statewide. Originally, the fee reduction was to take place July 1, 2020, but on April 4 Delta Dental announced it will postpone the effective date to Jan. 1, 2021.

Get to know CDA’s March Student Spotlight, Pouya Ansari from the Western University College of Dental Medicine class of 2022.

Any dental practice that is uncertain if is fully compliant with HIPAA and state privacy laws will benefit from four new HIPAA training resources available in the CDA Practice Support section of cda.org. Each resource is intended to train both the privacy officer and the security officer in a dental practice on their shared responsibilities.

The March issue of the Journal of the California Dental Association commemorates CDA’s 150th year with articles on the history of the organization and the roles medicine, technology, dental education and societal needs play in shaping the future of dentistry and oral health. The issue also features articles on the future of organized dentistry.

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.

A new state law that would have prohibited employers from requiring employees in California to sign certain mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment did not take effect Jan. 1, as scheduled, and is awaiting final judgment in court.

The California Consumer Privacy Act, which took effect Jan. 1, aims to give California consumers greater control over their personal information by imposing certain obligations on entities covered by the law. Although health care providers such as dental practices are exempt from this new law, it is important to understand that some of the law’s provisions are similar to those required by HIPAA and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.

Countless protections are in place to safeguard our private financial data. In the dental office, data encryption, anti-virus software and firewalls are the go-to preventative measures, not to mention the classic lock-and-key methods for securing hardware and other items of value. Unfortunately, smart thieves can, and have, found ways to outwit many of the most advanced security systems.

Dentists are reporting to CDA that pharmacies are telling them to get new prescription forms. The new forms are now available; however, as CDA has previously reported, California law does not require that they be used until Jan. 1, 2021. The state Department of Justice has a bulletin on the transition period for using the new prescription forms containing specific serial numbers and barcodes.

Maria Ladd can cite many examples of good patient outcomes from her eight years and counting as a registered dental hygienist in alternative practice, but she has a couple of favorites. One involves a first-time patient, age 80, who resided in an assisted living center. The patient’s daughter had contacted Ladd to request a teeth cleaning on her mother’s behalf.

The new year and an expanded sales and service team at TDIC Insurance Solutions promise to deliver an enhanced, “more holistic” customer service experience for TDIC policyholders. In fact, policyholders who’ve called TDIC Insurance Solutions recently may have already noticed the change. Effective January, policyholders in California, Arizona, Nevada, Minnesota and North Dakota now benefit from having one dedicated agent and one dedicated account manager.

Get to know CDA’s February Student Spotlight, Shannon Walker from the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry class of 2023.

Employers in California can now visit a single website to help them understand their requirements under a new law that further restricts their ability to classify their workers as independent contractors. Launched late last year by the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency, the website provides employer-specific resources and FAQ summarizing AB 5 and the ABC test and more.