Senate Bill S7877

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7877

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to unprofessional dental
conduct

 
PURPOSE:

This bill defines specified unprofessional conduct in the provision of
dental services.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends article 133, section 6611 of the Education Law.

Section 1 of the bill defines unprofessional dental conduct to include
the failure by a treating dentist, prior to the initial diagnosis and
correction of malpositions of human teeth or initial use of orthodontic
appliances, to perform an examination, including the review of the
              

patient's most recent diagnostic digital or conventional radiographs or
other equivalent bone imaging suitable for orthodontia; to include fail-
ure to make available the name, telephone number, practice address, and
New York state license number of any dentist who will be involved in the
provision of telehealth services to a patient prior to the rendering of
services and when requested by a patient; and to include requiring a
patient to sign an agreement that limits the patient's ability to file a
complaint with the New York State Education Department.

Section 2 of the bill provides that the bill shall take effect imme-
diately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Dentists, particularly those who provide orthodontic telehealth
services, must be held to the proper standards of care for proving
patient care. The bill makes it clear that those standards of care
include proper examination of patients and review of imaging studies or
taking images when needed. It also requires that no dentist can keep his
or her identity secret from a patient and that no dentist can seek to
prevent a patient from filing a complaint with the New York State Educa-
tion Department. Attempts to prevent patients from filing complaints of
unprofessional conduct against a dentist are clearly an unacceptable
public policy as are efforts to hide.a dentist's identity from any
patient they treat.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately upon being signed into law.