California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill on September 25 that expands the state's required monitoring of preventive dental services.
The bill, AB 2207, introduced by Assembly Member Jim Wood, DDS (D-Healdsburg), focuses on preventive metrics for providers that accept the state's dental Medicaid program, Denti-Cal. It was designed to keep in line with the goals of the $740 million Dental Transformation Initiative, which seeks to drastically improve the Denti-Cal system by 2020.
The bill specifically requires the California Department of Health Care Service (DHCS) to report on the following metrics:
- Number of annual dental visits
- Number of annual preventive dental services
- Number of annual dental treatments
- Number of annual dental sealants and fluoride varnishes
The bill also moves the annual reporting deadline from October 31 to January 31, and it requires DHCS to report its findings on the department's website for public use. In addition, it added requirements to help streamline the Medicaid provider enrollment process for dental offices.
