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Office of the Revisor of Statutes

SF 1361 Senate Long Description

E Establishing a dental education account in the general fund for use by the commissioner of health to establish a loan forgiveness program for dentists agreeing to provide services to state public assistance program participants and other low to moderate income uninsured patients, specifying program eligibility requirements and loan forgiveness conditions, providing a penalty for nonfulfillment of the service commitment requirement, authorizing commissioner waiver or suspension of payment or service obligations under certain disability or emergency conditions; providing for the consideration of patients seen on a volunteer basis by dentists at locations other than the usual place of practice in meeting the medical assistance (MA) participation requirement for participation in other health care programs; requiring and providing for the commissioner of human services to award grants to community clinics or other nonprofit community organizations, local government units or professional associations demonstrating the ability to provide dental services to public program recipients, specifying certain authorized grant uses; specifying certain grant award priority and consideration requirements; requiring the commissioner to evaluate the effects of the dental access initiatives funded through the grants and report to the legislature by a certain date; requiring the commissioner to establish a temporary dental access advisory committee to monitor the purchasing, administration and coverage of dental care services for public health care programs to ensure dental care access and quality for recipients, specifying certain membership representation requirements and duties, requiring annual commissioner reports to the legislature on the activities and recommendations of the advisory committee; requiring the commissioner to establish a dental services demonstration project in Crow Wing, Todd, Morrison, Wadena and Cass counties to provide dental services to medical assistance, general assistance medical care (GAMC) and MinnesotaCare program recipients, authorizing the commissioner to contract on a prospective per capita payment basis for the services or to establish and administer a fee for service system; eliminating certain provisions providing for a prior dental services grant program under medical assistance; establishing a formula under medical assistance for payment for diagnostic examinations and dental x-rays provided to children under a certain age and authorizing and providing for the commissioner to increase reimbursement to dentists or dental clinics designated by the commissioner as critical access providers; appropriating money to the commissioner of health for the dentist loan forgiveness program and to the commissioner of human services for medical assistance dental payment rate increases and for the dental access grant program (ra, ja)