Dental professionals.

(1) Under existing law, the Dental Practice Act, the Dental Board of California licenses and regulates dentists. Existing law creates, within the jurisdiction of the board, a Dental Assisting Council that is responsible for the regulation of dental assistants, registered dental assistants, and registered dental assistants in extended functions and a Dental Hygiene Committee of California, that is responsible for the regulation of registered dental hygienists, registered dental hygienists in alternative practice, and registered dental hygienists in extended functions. Existing law governs the scope of practice for those professionals, and authorizes a dentist to require or permit one of those professionals, referred to as a dental auxiliary, to perform specified duties, including exposing emergency radiographs upon the direction of the dentist, prior to the dentist examining the patient. This bill would add to those specified duties exposing radiographs, as specified, make a dentist responsible to provide a patient or the patient's representative written notice, including specified contact information and disclosing that the care was provided at the direction of that authorizing dentist, and would prohibit a dentist from concurrently supervising more than a total of 5 dental auxiliaries, as specified. The bill would authorize specified registered dental assistants in extended functions, registered dental hygienists, and registered dental hygienists in alternative practice to determine which radiographs to perform and to place protective restorations, as specified. The bill would require the board to adopt related regulations, and would also require the committee to review proposed regulations and submit any recommended changes to the board for review to establish a consensus. (2) Existing law requires the committee to establish by resolution the amount of the fees that relate to the licensing of a registered dental hygienist, registered dental hygienist in alternative practice, and registered dental hygienist in extended functions. Existing law limits the fee for each review of courses required for licensure that are not accredited to $300. Under existing law, those fees are further limited to the reasonable regulatory cost incurred by the committee. This bill would instead limit the fee for each review or approval of course requirements for licensure or procedures that require additional training to $750. (3) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including certain dental services, as specified. Existing law provides that, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, face-to-face contact between a health care provider and a patient is not required under the Medi-Cal program for "teleophthalmology and teledermatology by store and forward," as defined to mean the asynchronous transmission of medical information to be reviewed at a later time by a licensed physician or optometrist, as specified, at a distant site. This bill would additionally provide that face-to-face contact between a health care provider and a patient is not required under the Medi-Cal program for teledentistry by store and forward, as defined. (4) Existing law authorizes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to approve Health Workforce Pilot Projects (HWPP) No. 172, as defined. The office has approved operation HWPP No. 172, relating to dental workforce, through December 15, 2014. This bill would extend the operation of HWPP through January 1, 2016. The bill would also delete redundant provisions, and would make conforming changes.