The U.S. Congress this week approved a new compromise fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution bill (HR 1473), ending the long-running debate on federal funding for the remainder of the current budget year, but among the bill's fine print is language prohibiting funding for the alternative dental healthcare provider demonstration projects authorized in the healthcare reform law.
"There is a section of the budget agreement bill that deals with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency in the Department of Health and Human Services that is authorized to conduct these pilot programs," Andy Snyder, research manager for the Pew Center on the State, told DrBicuspid.com.
Section 1810 includes the guidance on how much money HRSA has for rest of the year and what they can spend it on, and the last clause states that none of the HRSA funding can go to the dental workforce pilot program, he noted.
"Basically, Congress is saying that of the money we're giving you for the rest of the year, none can go to these programs, and you can't spend any other money you might have on these projects," Snyder said. "Which is disappointing, given that the Institute of Medicine report issued last week concluded that experiments with expanding the dental workforce should be part of a complex solution to oral health access."
The ADA "has consistently opposed funding these demonstration projects, which could support programs allowing midlevel providers to perform surgical/irreversible procedures," the organization stated in an alert to members sent out April 14.
