Children's Dental Health Improvement Act of 1999

Summary

Children's Dental Health Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Expanded Opportunities for Training Pediatric Dental Health Care Providers - Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), as amended by the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) develop training materials for use by health professionals to promote oral health through health education; (2) make grants to schools that train pediatric dental health providers to meet the costs of projects for developing or improving training programs in providing dental health services to children; (3) establish at least ten Pediatric Dental Centers of Excellence with not less than 36 additional training positions annually for pediatric dentists at such centers of excellence; (4) determine dental site readiness in inner city, rural, frontier, and border areas; and (5) increase the numbers of Corps and private practice dentists under contract with the Corps who are selected for student loan repayments. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary to increase the number of dental health providers skilled in treating children who become members of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and who are assigned to duty for the National Health Service Corps, so that there are specified numbers of additional dentists and dental hygienists in the Corps (ensuring that at least 20 percent of Corps dentists are pediatric dentists and another 20 percent have general dentistry residency training. Requires the Corps to report annually to Congress on how it is meeting the oral health needs of underserved children in rural, frontier, and border areas. Increases the amount of appropriations made available under the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998 for grant and contract awards under PHSA for programs of pediatric or general dentistry. (Sec. 104) Provides for a dental officer multiyear retention bonus for the Indian Health Service. (Sec. 105) Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary to make Medicare payments to approved nonhospital based dentistry residency training programs providing oral health care to children for program operating expenses. Provides for a permanent dental exemption from voluntary residency reduction incentive payment programs under Medicare, and for the removal of dentists from full-time equivalent count averaging requirements under Medicare. Redefines primary care resident. (Sec. 106) Amends PHSA to allow the Secretary to designate dental health professional shortage areas in areas with a severe shortage of dental health professionals, including general and pediatric dentists and dental hygienists. Includes dental hygienists in PHSA's student loan repayment program. Title II: Ensuring Delivery of Pediatric Dental Services Under the Medicaid and SCHIP Programs - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to: (1) provide for quarterly payment to a State of an amount equal to the greater of the Federal medical assistance percentage or 75 percent of the sums expended during the quarter attributable to dental services for children; (2) require a State Medicaid plan to provide for payment for dental services for children at a rate designed to create an incentive for providers of such services (but that does not result in a reduction or other adverse impact on the extent to which the State provides dental services to adults); (3) set the required minimum Medicaid expenditures each fiscal year for dental health services for children; (4) require the State to verify annually sufficient numbers of Medicaid-participating dental health professionals and to collect appropriate data; (5) provide for the inclusion of the recommended age for the first dental visit in the definition of early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services (EPSDT); and (6) provide for the use of Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (SSA title XXI) funds to treat certain low-income children with special oral health needs (including advanced craniofacial diseases) who reside in certain States. (Sec. 207) Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to direct the Secretary to award grants to States to supplement payments made under State Medicaid and CHIP programs for the treatment of children with special oral health care needs. Defines children with special oral health care needs as children with oral, dental and craniofacial conditions or disorders, and other acute or chronic medical, genetic, and behavioral disorders with dental manifestations. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 208) Directs the Secretary to establish demonstration projects designed to increase access to dental services for children in underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Pediatric Dental Research - Directs the Secretary to: (1) support community based research designed to improve our understanding of the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pediatric oral, dental, craniofacial diseases and conditions and their sequelae in high risk populations; (2) develop clinical approaches to assess individual patients for pediatric dental disease; and (3) support demonstrations of preventive interventions in high risk populations. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 302) Amends PHSA to direct the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research to conduct and support activities with respect to existing barriers, including access to oral health care for children, and the establishment of measures of oral health status and outcomes. (Sec. 303) Amends PHSA to direct the Secretary to establish a specified oral health research and training program involving qualified oral health professional participants who, pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary, will have a specified portion of their educational loans repaid by the Secretary in exchange for the program-related research they conduct or the program-related training they provide. (Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to convene a Consensus Development Conference to: (1) examine the management of early childhood caries; and (2) support research on the biology and physiologic dynamics of infectious transmission of dental caries. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Surveillance and Accountability - Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect and report annually to the appropriate congressional committees on the dental, craniofacial, and oral health of residents of at least one State from each HHS region. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to require a State Medicaid plan to provide for the reporting to the Secretary of the following: (1) the percentage of expenditures for EPSDT dental health professionals licensed in the State and providing services commensurate with State Medicaid plan eligibility; and (3) data on the children being served and the actual services provided. (Sec. 403) Directs the Administrator of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families to report annually to the appropriate congressional committees the percentage of children enrolled in a Head or Early Start program who have access to and who obtain dental care, including children with special oral, dental, and craniofacial health needs. (Sec. 404) Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to impose on the State involved certain data collection and submission requirements with regard to children under the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC) under that Act. Title V: Oral Health Promotion and Disease Prevention - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States or localities for the purpose of increasing the resources available for community water fluoridation. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 502) Directs the Secretary to establish a specified demonstration project designed to assist rural water systems in successfully implementing certain CDC water fluoridation guidelines. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to States or localities to provide for the development of school-based dental sealant programs at eligible public elementary or secondary schools to improve the access of certain children to sealants. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Establishes the effective dates for this Act, some of which are retroactive to the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

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3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 28 April 1999

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• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 28 April 1999

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 28 April 1999

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