News Articles

On May 24, 2018, the Registered Dental Assistant Written and Registered Dental Assistant Law and Ethics examinations are expected to launch as a single combined exam. The Dental Board of California and the Dental Assisting Council in a December 2016 meeting agreed to take this action to “ensure that the combined examination is legally defensible and meets the requirements of Business and Professions Code Section 139.”

The Department of Justice on April 2 announced that California’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, also known as CURES 2.0, is ready for statewide use and that mandatory CURES consultation becomes effective Oct. 2, 2018. Beginning on this date, prescribers must check a patient’s prescription history in CURES 2.0 before prescribing a Schedule II-IV substance, with some exceptions.

CDA filed the legal action that led to this settlement in August 2013 after learning earlier that year of Delta Dental’s plans to reduce reimbursement rates for the Premier Plan by 8 to 12 percent. CDA claimed that Delta Dental’s attempt to amend the Participating Dentist Agreements (PDA) to pave the way for this reduction was a breach of its “duty of good faith and fair dealing.” 

In a final rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration, 24 active ingredients used in nonprescription antiseptic products are “not generally recognized as safe and effective” (GRAS/GRAE) for use by health care professionals in health care settings or situations “due to insufficient data.” The ban applies to use of these ingredients in over-the-counter antiseptics and takes effect Dec. 20, 2018.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2018, adults enrolled in the Denti-Cal program are eligible for an expanded set of dental benefits. The Department of Health Care Services on Nov. 9 issued a special provider bulletin to clarify the dental services that providers may render, bill and be reimbursed for by Denti-Cal in 2018, including scaling and root planing, partial dentures and posterior root canals.

Dentists have reported to CDA that pharmacies have rejected their prescriptions due either to forms that are out of date or are missing required elements. All prescriptions have been for controlled substances, which must be on tamper-resistant forms printed by California-approved printers and containing California-specific pre-printed elements.

More than 7 million adults enrolled in Denti-Cal, California’s Medicaid dental program, will have a fully restored package of dental benefits in 2018. The adult benefit package was drastically cut in 2009 due to the state budget crisis and was partially restored in May 2014. The restoration of the adult dental benefit services is a result of legislative action taken during the 2017-18 budget process.

CDA Practice Support occasionally hears a complaint from dental offices that a plan granted a preauthorization for treatment and then denied payment when the claim was submitted. Digging a little deeper into these complaints, there may be some confusion between what constitutes a “preauthorization” and what is a “predetermination” or pre-estimate of benefits.

The ordered closure in mid-December of a children’s dental clinic in Southern California reminds dental practices of the importance of cleaning and maintaining dental unit water lines for the safety of patients. CDA urges dentists to ensure they are following the Dental Board of California’s current requirements along with CDC recommendations.

Beginning in the New Year, and with the forthcoming issue of the CDA Update, the dental benefits column will host a semiregular series discussing basic dental benefit issues. The topics covered address questions that CDA Practice Support receives from dental offices and from local dental components. This first installment addresses proper billing for treatment provided by an associate and waiving of co-payments.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has determined 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water is the optimal fluoride level in drinking water to prevent tooth decay.

This recommendation, released April 27, updates and replaces the previous recommended range (0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter) issued in 1962.

CDA applauds this decision by HHS.

CDA Practice Support recently received a call from a dentist about a disgruntled patient who was accusing the dentist of violating the patient’s HIPAA privacy rights because of a past-due bill.

Specifically, the patient claimed that they received a letter from a collection agency and the fact that the collection agency had their information was a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). CDA confirmed that this is not a violation of HIPAA as long as the dentist took the proper steps to inform patients how the practice uses patient information and to provide to the collection agency only the minimum necessary information for the agency to perform its work.