SENATE BILL No. 256

 

 

March 21, 2017, Introduced by Senators MACGREGOR, HERTEL, PROOS, HOPGOOD, JONES, NOFS, SHIRKEY and MARLEAU and referred to the Committee on Health Policy.

 

 

     A bill to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled

 

"Public health code,"

 

by amending section 16625 (MCL 333.16625), as amended by 2005 PA

 

161.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 16625. (1) The board may promulgate rules to prohibit or

 

otherwise restrict the assignment of procedures to a dental

 

hygienist or a dental assistant if the board determines that the

 

assignment constitutes or may constitute a danger to the health,

 

safety, or welfare of the patient or the public.

 

     (2) Notwithstanding section 16601(1)(f) or the rules

 

promulgated under subsection (1), a dental hygienist may perform

 

dental hygiene services under the supervision of a dentist as part

of a program for dentally underserved populations in this state

 

conducted by a local, state, or federal grantee health agency for

 

patients who are not assigned by a dentist. The director of

 

community the department of health and human services shall

 

designate a person as a grantee health agency for a 2-year period

 

if the person applies to the department of community health and

 

human services on a form provided by the department of community

 

health and human services and meets all either of the following

 

requirements:

 

     (a) Meets all of the following:

 

     (i) (a) Is a public or nonprofit entity, or a school or

 

nursing home, that administers a program of dental care to a

 

dentally underserved population.

 

     (ii) (b) Employs or contracts with at least 1 dentist or 1

 

dental hygienist.

 

     (iii) (c) Submits a program overview indicating the

 

approximate population to be served, the method by which the

 

service is to be provided, the procedures for program oversight and

 

direction, and the name and license number of the dentist and

 

dental hygienist, if applicable, who are performing services under

 

the program.

 

     (b) Is a dentist.

 

     (3) Within 10 business days after the department of health and

 

human services approves an application and designates a grantee

 

health agency under subsection (2), the department of health and

 

human services shall notify the board of the designation in writing

 

or make the information electronically available.

     (4) The director of community the department of health and

 

human services may appoint an advisory committee to assist the

 

director of community the department of health and human services

 

in designating grantee health agencies under subsection (2). If the

 

director of community the department of health and human services

 

does appoint an advisory committee under this subsection, the

 

director of community the department of health and human services

 

shall include on the advisory committee, at a minimum, a

 

representative from the Michigan dental hygienist association

 

Dental Hygienist Association or its successor organization and a

 

representative from the Michigan dental association Dental

 

Association or its successor organization.

 

     (5) If a grantee health agency designated under subsection (2)

 

is a dentist, the grantee health agency shall comply with all of

 

the following:

 

     (a) Accept a referral of a patient who receives dental hygiene

 

services from a dental hygienist under subsection (2).

 

     (b) If the dental hygiene services will be performed at a

 

location that is not the private practice office of the dentist,

 

enter into a memorandum of agreement with a site operator where the

 

dental hygiene services will be performed.

 

     (c) If a patient has a dental home at the time he or she seeks

 

dental hygiene services from the program, not accept the patient

 

into the program.

 

     (6) If a grantee health agency designated under subsection (2)

 

is a dentist and a dental hygienist is performing dental hygiene

 

services under subsection (2) for the grantee health agency, the

dental hygienist shall comply with both of the following:

 

     (a) Maintain general liability insurance covering the services

 

provided by the dental hygienist that is issued by an insurance

 

carrier that is authorized to do business in this state.

 

     (b) Perform dental hygiene services for a dentally underserved

 

population.

 

     (7) Subject to this subsection, a dentist who supervises a

 

dental hygienist who is performing dental hygiene services under

 

subsection (2) is not liable in a civil action for personal injury

 

or death proximately caused by the professional negligence or

 

malpractice of the dental hygienist who is performing the dental

 

hygiene services. This subsection does not apply if the conduct of

 

the dentist in supervising the dental hygienist is gross

 

negligence.

 

     (8) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (1), the

 

department of health and human services may promulgate rules to

 

implement subsections (2) to (5).

 

     (9) (5) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Dental home" means that term as defined in section 21601.

 

     (b) "Gross negligence" means conduct so reckless as to

 

demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury

 

results.

 

     (c) "Memorandum of agreement" means written documentation of

 

an agreement between parties to work together cooperatively on an

 

agreed-upon project or meet an agreed-upon objective. The purpose

 

of a memorandum of agreement is to have a written understanding of

 

the agreement between the parties. A memorandum of agreement serves

as a legal document that is binding and holds the parties

 

responsible to their commitment along with describing the terms and

 

details of the cooperative agreement. A memorandum of agreement may

 

be used between agencies, the public, the federal or state

 

government, communities, and individuals.

 

     (d) (a) "Nursing home" means that term as defined under

 

section 20109.

 

     (e) (b) "School" means a public or private elementary or

 

secondary institution of learning for any grade from kindergarten

 

to grade 12.

 

     (f) "Site operator" means an owner, or the owner's designee,

 

of a location that is not the private practice office of the

 

dentist.

 

     (g) (c) "Supervision" means the overseeing of or participation

 

in the work of any other individual by a health professional

 

licensed under this article in circumstances in which 1 or more of

 

the following exist:

 

     (i) The continuous availability of direct communication in

 

person or by radio, telephone, or telecommunication between the

 

supervised individual and a licensed health professional.

 

     (ii) The availability of a licensed health professional on a

 

regularly scheduled basis to review the practice of the supervised

 

individual, to provide consultation to the supervised individual,

 

to review records, and to further educate the supervised individual

 

in the performance of the individual's functions.

 

     (iii) The provision by the licensed supervising health

 

professional of predetermined procedures and drug protocol.

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.