HBA-JEK, TBM H.B. 974 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 974 By: Maxey Public Health 2/20/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identified a shortage of dentists in 69 counties in Texas in 1998. The Texas Senate Health Committee reports that in 1998 the population to dentist ratio in urban counties was 2,636:1 while the ratio in rural counties was 4,342:1. New telecommunications technology makes it possible for a dentist to see an image of a patient and recommend a course of treatment from hundreds of miles away. Teledentistry could potentially bring dental care to rural and underprivileged areas of Texas that lack dental care. The Center for TeleHealth at the Baylor College of Dentistry is already putting teledentistry into use in several unincorporated colonia settlements that have no dental services. House Bill 974 sets forth provisions relating to the practice and Medicaid reimbursement of teledentistry. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 3 (Section 531.02171, Government Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 974 amends the Occupations and Government codes to authorize the use of advanced telecommunications technology in dentistry. The bill authorizes a licensed dentist to use telecommunications technology to examine a patient and to then delegate an assignment through telecommunications technology to a dental hygienist who is under the supervision and responsibility of the dentist. The bill provides that a person in another state practices dentistry in this state if the person through any medium, including an electronic medium, performs an act that constitutes the practice of dentistry on a patient in this state. The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission to require, by rule, each health and human services agency that administers a part of the Medicaid program to provide Medicaid reimbursement for a teledental consultation provided by a licensed dentist in this state at the same rate as the Medicaid program reimburses for a comparable in-person consultation. The bill prohibits the denial of a request for reimbursement solely because an in-person consultation between a dentist and a patient did not occur. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.