The Dental Board of California today notified licensees with general anesthesia, conscious sedation and oral conscious sedation for minors permits expiring in 2022 that they “must renew their permits by December 31, 2021, in order to continue to practice under the existing terms of the permits beyond the scheduled 2022 expiration date."

Following recent settlements against providers who violated HIPAA Privacy Rule, CDA encourages its members to utilize an array of tools and resources to achieve compliance

Surveillance cameras in dental offices are becoming more and more common. The driving force behind them is typically security, as cameras can aid in loss control, deter theft and discourage other criminal activity. But cameras are not without their drawbacks. Prior to hitting the record button, practice owners should be aware of the laws and regulations surrounding their use. While laws vary from state to state, there are some basic guidelines.

Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations took effect Feb. 3, replacing the most recent version of the emergency temporary standards that California dentists have been complying with since May 2022.

CDA encourages dentists to review continuing education requirements as the dental board resumes conducting C.E. audits. Common C.E. deficiencies include failure to complete a mandatory C.E. course, the minimum required units for license renewal or a course from an approved provider.

A new law to ensure proper irrigation and disinfection of exposed pulpal tissue went into effect Jan. 1 of this year. As explained in a December 2018 Update article, the law states that water and other methods used for irrigation when performing procedures on exposed dental pulp must be “sterile or contain recognized disinfecting or antibacterial properties.”

The February 2022 issue of the Journal of the California Dental Association features articles on how dentistry has responded and adapted to the “new normal” of living and practicing with COVID-19, with the expectation that SARS-CoV-2 will eventually become endemic. 

CDA members benefit from a new online training program designed to help California dental practices achieve full compliance with Cal/OSHA’s requirements for bloodborne pathogen safety training and exposure control.

A scam targeting dentists is flaring up again. CDA Practice Support heard last week from a member dentist whose associate received a call from a fraudster posing as a California dental board official. The caller told the associate her dental license had been suspended for suspicious drug activity in Texas and Mexico.  

When performing or involved with aerosol-generating procedures (open suctioning of airways, sputum induction and others), dental health care personnel should continue to wear NIOSH-approved N95, N95-equivalent or higher-level respirators. 
 

A private dental practice in Dallas, Texas, has agreed to pay $10,000 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights to settle potential violations of the HIPAA privacy rule. The HHS reported that the OCR completed its investigation of a complaint by a patient who alleged that the practice disclosed on social media the patient’s last name and the details of the patient’s health condition.

Along with the benefit of compliance with state regulations to prevent controlled-substance abuse, ePrescribing can improve clinical care and efficiency.

Every quarter, CDA publishes a Practice Health Check focusing on a different topic related to the business side of dentistry. HIPAA compliance, specifically patients’ access to their records, is the focus in the second quarter of 2023. CDA members are invited to take the Q2 Practice Health Check consisting of just three questions.

A new year means updated regulations for California dentists to follow. It also means guidance and new resources from CDA. Members are invited to take CDA's newest Practice Health Check to gauge their compliance with regulations as the new year begins.

A dentist in Maryland is among the latest group of providers to pay either a settlement fee or a civil monetary penalty and agree to take corrective actions for potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. 

As the number of measles cases in California and at least 25 other states continues to rise, becoming the highest number of reported cases in the U.S. since 1994, dental practices should ensure that they are screening patients for the highly contagious virus and other aerosol transmissible diseases prior to providing treatment.