BILL NUMBER: S7879

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring parity
in the standards of dental telehealth services

 
PURPOSE:

This bill requires dental telehealth services to adhere to the standards
of appropriate patient care required in other dental health care
settings and prohibits dental telehealth providers from attempting to
waive liability for its telehealth services.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends Public Health Law S2999dd.

Section 1 requires dental telehealth services to adhere to the standards
of appropriate care required in other dental health care settings,
              

requires dental telehealth providers to identify themselves to patients
and provide their New York state license number, prohibits a dental
telehealth provider from attempting to waive liability in advance of
providing services and prohibits a dental telehealth provider from
attempting to prevent a patient from filing a complaint with any govern-
mental agency or authority.

Section 2 provides that the bill shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In dentistry, particularly in orthodontics, there are unqualified tele-
health providers taking advantage of the public and causing harm to
patients by failing to adhere to recognized standards of care.  Unli-
censed people are performing procedures that require a professional
license and professional skill to perform. Patients are not undergoing
proper examinations, necessary x-rays, or reviews of medical and dental
history before orthodontic treatments are done.  Such behaviors by
licensed dentists would lead to malpractice and/or professional disci-
pline charges. To evade such possibilities, dental telehealth providers
coerce patients to agree not to file any complaints with any government
authorities and to agree to waive any liability of the telehealth
provider for bad or improper care. The law must be amended to make clear
that such practices will not be tolerated.

The failure to address these basic patient safeguards could cause
patients to lose trust in telehealth and to consider it an inferior
health care delivery model.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.