Bill Text: NY S08759 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Authorizes a licensed dental hygienist, collaborative practice to provide services without supervision in collaboration with a licensed dentist under a collaborative practice agreement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-20 - PRINT NUMBER 8759B [S08759 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08759-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8759

                    IN SENATE

                                      March 7, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law,  in  relation  to  registered  dental
          hygienists  working  without  supervision  but  within a collaborative
          practice agreement with a licensed dentist

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.   Section 6606 of the education law, as amended by chapter
     2  244 of the laws of 1973, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 239 of  the
     3  laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
     4    § 6606. Definition  of practice of dental hygiene.  1. The practice of
     5  the profession of dental hygiene is defined as the performance of dental
     6  services which shall include removing  calcareous  deposits,  accretions
     7  and  stains  from  the  exposed surfaces of the teeth which begin at the
     8  epithelial attachment  and  applying  topical  agents  indicated  for  a
     9  complete dental prophylaxis, removing cement, placing or removing rubber
    10  dam, removing sutures, placing matrix band, providing patient education,
    11  applying  topical  medication,  placing  and  exposing diagnostic dental
    12  X-ray films, performing topical fluoride applications and topical  anes-
    13  thetic  applications,  polishing teeth, taking medical history, charting
    14  caries, taking impressions for study casts, placing and removing  tempo-
    15  rary  restorations, administering and monitoring nitrous oxide analgesia
    16  and administering and monitoring local infiltration anesthesia,  subject
    17  to  certification in accordance with section sixty-six hundred five-b of
    18  this article, and any other function in the definition of  the  practice
    19  of  dentistry  as  may  be delegated by a licensed dentist in accordance
    20  with regulations promulgated by the commissioner. The practice of dental
    21  hygiene may be conducted in the office of any licensed dentist or in any
    22  appropriately equipped school or public institution  but  must  be  done
    23  either under the supervision of a licensed dentist or[, in the case of a
    24  registered dental hygienist working for a hospital as defined in article
    25  twenty-eight  of  the  public  health  law,  pursuant to a collaborative
    26  arrangement with a licensed and registered  dentist  who  has  a  formal
    27  relationship  with  the  same  hospital  in  accordance with regulations

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02162-04-4
        S. 8759                             2

     1  promulgated by the department in consultation  with  the  department  of
     2  health]  may be performed by a registered dental hygienist designated as
     3  a  registered  dental  hygienist,  collaborative  practice  (RDH-CP)  in
     4  collaboration  with  a  licensed  dentist  provided  such  services  are
     5  performed in accordance with a written practice  agreement  and  written
     6  practice  protocols  to  be known as a collaborative practice agreement.
     7  Under a collaborative practice agreement, dental hygienists may  perform
     8  all  services  which  are  designated in regulation under general super-
     9  vision without prior evaluation of a dentist or medical professional and
    10  may  be  performed  without  supervision  in  a  collaborative  practice
    11  setting.   Such collaborative arrangement shall not obviate or supersede
    12  any law or regulation which requires identified services to be performed
    13  under the personal  supervision  of  a  dentist.  [When  dental  hygiene
    14  services are provided pursuant to a collaborative agreement, such dental
    15  hygienist  shall  instruct  individuals  to visit a licensed dentist for
    16  comprehensive examination or treatment.]
    17    2. (a) The collaborative practice agreement  shall  include  consider-
    18  ation  for  medically compromised patients, specific medical conditions,
    19  and age- and procedure-specific practice protocols, including,  but  not
    20  limited  to  recommended intervals for the performance of dental hygiene
    21  services and a periodicity in which an examination by a  dentist  should
    22  occur.
    23    (b) The collaborative practice agreement shall be:
    24    (i) signed and maintained by the dentist, the dental hygienist and the
    25  facility, program or organization; and
    26    (ii) reviewed annually by the collaborating dentist and dental hygien-
    27  ist; and
    28    (iii)  made  available  to the department and other interested parties
    29  upon    request.
    30    (c) A registered dental  hygienist,  collaborative  practice  (RDH-CP)
    31  shall  have  no  more  than  one collaborative practice agreement with a
    32  collaborative dentist at one time.
    33    3. Before performing services authorized under this section, a  dental
    34  hygienist must provide the patient with a written statement advising the
    35  patient  that  the dental hygiene services provided are not a substitute
    36  for a dental examination by a licensed dentist. If the dental  hygienist
    37  makes  any  referrals  to the patient for further procedures, the dental
    38  hygienist must fill out a referral form and provide a copy of  the  form
    39  to the collaborating dentist.
    40    4.  A contractual arrangement under this section may be made by either
    41  a New York state licensed and registered dentist or a registered  dental
    42  hygienist,  collaborative practice (RDH-CP) in the following settings: a
    43  hospital as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health    law,
    44  any appropriately  equipped  school, federally qualified health centers,
    45  long-term care facilities,  group homes servicing the intellectually and
    46  developmentally   disabled   population,  facilities  serving  veterans,
    47  facilities servicing the homeless, prisons, drug  treatment  facilities,
    48  domestic  violence shelters, and appropriate settings in which homebound
    49  residents are unable to be relocated for necessary treatment.
    50    5. A collaborating dentist shall have collaborative agreements with no
    51  more than six RDH-CPs. The department  may  grant  exceptions  to  these
    52  limitations for public health settings on a case-by-case basis.
    53    6. A dental hygienist must make application to the department to prac-
    54  tice as an RDH-CP and pay a fee set by the department. As a condition of
    55  collaborative  practice,  the dental hygienist must have been engaged in
    56  practice for three years with a minimum of four  thousand  five  hundred
        S. 8759                             3

     1  practice  hours  and  shall  complete an eight-hour continuing education
     2  program that includes instruction in medical emergency procedures,  risk
     3  management, dental hygiene jurisprudence and professional ethics.
     4    7.  The  commissioner  shall promulgate regulations defining the func-
     5  tions a dental hygienist may perform that are consistent with the train-
     6  ing and qualifications for a license as a dental hygienist.
     7    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.