(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blogsite)
Sometimes even well-intentioned bills in the Legislature can have unintended impacts, and we’re concerned about two such bills that authorize mid-level dental practitioners to perform basic dental procedures in order to address under-served populations around the state.
Versions of one of the bills are being promoted in several states, including Massachusetts, by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The second bill is being promoted by the Massachusetts Dental Society.
While we appreciate the intent behind the bills, we are concerned that passage of either one as currently written could actually result in the loss of existing services to clients of the Department of Developmental Services.
If either bill is enacted, many DDS clients, who are currently served by experienced dentists, could be switched by the administration to less skilled and experienced practitioners as a money-saving measure.
Backers of the Pew Trusts bill (S. 1169) point out that large numbers of adults and children in this and other states around the country are unable to access dental care either because they live in under-served areas or because only about a third of U.S. dentists accept publicly provided health insurance.
Under S. 1169, practitioners known as “dental therapists” would work under supervisory agreements with dentists, and would be authorized to do such things as fill cavities, extract teeth, and apply crowns. While this may work well for patients in the general population, we don’t think it is workable for many people with developmental disabilities who require dentists with advanced skills and significant experience.
As such, we would not support either S. 1169 or the competing bill from the Massachusetts Dental Society (S. 142) unless either bill contained language specifying that dentists must continue to treat persons with developmental disabilities.
The primary sponsors of S. 1169, Senator Harriette Chandler and Representative Smitty Pignatelli, maintain that hundreds of thousands of children covered by Masshealth in Massachusetts do not regularly see a dentist.
However, it has apparently not been as difficult to find a dentist for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). Right now, the availability of dental services to persons with ID/DD appears to be quite high in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council’s (MDDC) State Plan for Fiscal 2017 states that between 90% and 97% of DDS clients have continued to receive annual dental exams.
Some 7,000 developmentally disabled persons in Massachusetts receive dental care in seven state-funded clinics run by the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Pediatric dentistry is offered by Franciscan Hospital for Children.
Despite that high level of service provision, we have seen in the past that administrations have proposed elimination of some of the Tufts clinics in order to save money. Strong opposition from families of DDS clients helped to preserve at least one such clinic temporarily at the now closed Fernald Developmental Center, but that clinic was ultimately closed.
Our concern is that as currently written, either S. 1169 or S. 142 might actually give the Baker administration an excuse to reduce funding for the Tufts clinics because those clients could now presumably be served by the dental therapists or hygienists, as authorized by the legislation. If that is the case, there could be an increasing impetus to close additional Tufts facilities for those clients.
Moreover, while S. 1169 requires that the dental therapists receive training in treating people with ID/DD, the therapists would certainly not have the expertise or experience of the dentists in the Tufts clinics. The bill actually doesn’t specify the amount of training the dental therapists would be required to receive.
The Tufts Dental school declined to comment on either bill. Dentists themselves in Massachusetts oppose S. 1169, arguing that it does not provide for sufficient training of the dental therapists or direct supervision of them in all cases. The dentists also fear the use of dental therapists could lead to reduced reimbursement rates from insurance companies.
The Dental Society’s bill (S. 142) would establish more stringent educational and supervisory requirements regarding mid-level practitioners than does S. 1169. The Dental Society bill would require, for instance, that mid-level practitioners, which S. 142 refers to as public health dental practitioners, be under the direct, on-site supervision of a dentist at all times.
If either bill does pass, we would urge that language be added to prohibit the dental therapists or public health dental practitioners from having authorization to treat people with ID/DD unless an individual’s guardian specifically requested it.
We think that language along those lines would potentially protect existing dental services for people with ID/DD. Allowing guardians to request the therapists or public health dental practitioners would keep those options open if full dental services were not available for a developmentally disabled individual.
We emailed a Pew Charitable Trusts dental campaign officer on February 17 to express our concerns about the S. 1169, but have not as yet received a response from him.
Last week, I also contacted a legislative aide to Senator Chandler, who defended S. 1169, contending that it would would not result in reduced services to persons with ID/DD, but would “strengthen Tufts” and allow them to provide the same services at a “slightly lower cost.”
The aide said he would convey our concerns to Senator Chandler and would try to arrange for someone from Pew to get back to us with their response to our concerns. As noted, that hasn’t happened yet.
No one from Rep. Pignatelli’s office has yet responded to an email we sent early last week.
S. 1169, which currently has 30 co-sponsors from the House and Senate, has been referred to the Legislature’s Public Health Committee. Please call the Committee at (617) 722-1206 and urge them to insert language into the legislation to prevent dental therapists from treating people with developmental disabilities unless a guardian requests that. Or you can email the co-chairs of the Committee — Senator Jason Lewis ( Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov) and Representative Kate Hogan (Kate.Hogan@mahouse.gov).
The Massachusetts Dental Society’s bill (S. 142) has been referred to the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. That bill should also be amended to include our protective language. Please call that Committee at(617) 722-1612. Or you can email the co-chairs — Senator Barbara L’Italien (barbara.l’italien@masenate.gov) and Representative Jennifer Benson (Jennifer.Benson@mahouse.gov).
