A Washington state bill that would regulate the activities of dental service organizations (DSOs) passed that state's Senate 49-0, according to news reports.
The next step for the bill, SB 5322, is a public hearing in the state's House Health Care & Wellness Committee on March 10, according to an article in the Yakima Herald. The bill represents a compromise between the Washington State Dental Association and the Association of Dental Support Organizations, and it includes language from another DSO bill (SB 5158) that was folded into the final version of SB 5322.
Bracken Killpack, executive director of the Washington State Dental Association, said in the Yakima Herald article that the bill includes strong enforcement language.
"If the bill passes, it results in the strongest enforcement language in the country around nondentist influence in the doctor-patient relationship," Killpack said.
The bill prohibits DSOs from limiting the following:
- The amount of time spent with a patient
- Treatments chosen by the dentist
- Equipment used
- Professional training
- Referrals to specialists
- Dentists' access to patient records
- Decisions to offer refunds
- Acceptance of dental benefits
- Advertising
- Dentists' supervision of staff
- Dentists' communication with patients
