The California Department of Health Care Services has awarded $69.4 million toward student loan repayments for 249 physicians and 41 dentists to expand health care access for Medi-Cal patients.
The California Legislature approved a state budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year that upholds the will of the voters when they passed the Proposition 56 tobacco tax in 2016. The budget makes significant investments in Medi-Cal Dental improvements, workforce development and coronavirus relief.
CDA advocacy placed California ahead of the curve for enabling dentists to vaccinate individuals against COVID-19 when the Department of Consumer Affairs granted a public health emergency waiver on Jan. 4. Other states soon followed, passing legislation or issuing waivers and governors’ executive orders that allow dentists to administer the COVID-19 vaccines.
The Achievement award recognizes CDA for its unwavering advocacy efforts to successfully create an alternative pathway to timely licensure for graduating dental students whose clinical exams were canceled or postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organized dentistry is making it easier for dentists across California to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Local dental societies have been working with local health departments to get dentists and their staff members vaccinated, and dentists are volunteering their time and skills at vaccination clinics in their communities.
An expedited licensure application review process is now available for individuals in specific categories who apply for a professional license through California licensing boards, including dentists, RDAs and RDAEFs who apply for licensure through the Dental Board of California.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last Wednesday issued a notice to California health insurance and specialized health insurance companies, including 55 dental benefits companies, requesting that they “provide their policyholders with a partial premium refund no later than December 31, 2020.
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.
Despite Big Tobacco’s multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to stop legislation that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products in California, the Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly signed Senate Bill 793 into law last Friday.
Healthy People 2030, a 10-year national plan to promote and improve public health and prevent disease, launched Aug. 18 via webcast with experts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speaking on health equity, well-being and business partnerships.
Beginning July 1, providers and employees of providers are prohibited from establishing on behalf of a consumer an open-end credit or loan application that contains a deferred-interest provision. Consumers who wish to access these products will need to apply directly with the credit company.
The state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom reached an agreement yesterday on a balanced state budget for 2020-21 fiscal year that preserves critical safety net health care funding in the Medi-Cal dental (Denti-Cal) program.
