Licensure of dental therapists; extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; providing an exemption from rule-making procedures; and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

Under the bill, the board must grant a dental therapist license to an individual who satisfies certain criteria, including completion of a qualifying dental therapy education program and passage of required examinations.

Under the bill, a dental therapy education program qualifies if the program 1) is accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA); 2) is a program approved by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry on or before the bill's effective date that has, as of the time of application, become CODA-accredited; or 3) is a program offered in Wisconsin that has received initial CODA accreditation but is not yet fully CODA-accredited. With respect to the third category of dental therapy education programs (programs offered in Wisconsin), the bill allows applicants to obtain a license on the basis of graduation from such a program only for four years after the program's inception, and if the program is not fully CODA-accredited by the time that four-year period has elapsed, the bill requires the licenses of dental therapists who graduated from the program to be revoked.

Under the bill, dental therapists may provide dental therapy services only as an employee of specified employers and only under the supervision of a dentist who is either similarly employed or who directly employs the dental therapist. The dental therapist must also have a collaborative management agreement with a dentist that addresses various aspects of the dental therapist's practice and supervision. Dental therapists are, subject to the terms of a collaborative management agreement and what was covered in their dental therapy education program, limited to providing services, treatments, and procedures that are specified in the bill, as well as additional services, treatments, or procedures specified by the board by rule. Dental therapists may initially provide dental therapy services only under the direct or indirect supervision of a qualifying dentist. Once a dental therapist licensed has provided dental therapy services for at least 2,000 hours, the dental therapist may provide services under the general supervision of a qualifying dentist. However, the level of supervision for a dental therapist may be further limited under the terms of a collaborative management agreement. Dental therapists must also, under the bill, either 1) limit their practice to federally defined dental shortage areas or 2) practice in settings where at least 50 percent of their patient base consists of certain specified populations. Dental therapists must complete 12 hours of continuing education each biennium.

The bill subjects dental therapists to, or covers dental therapists under, various other laws, including the health care records law, the volunteer health care provider program, the health care worker protection law, and the emergency volunteer health care practitioner law. The bill also provides for loan forgiveness for dental therapists under the health care provider loan assistance program.

Finally, the bill requires, effective when 50 individuals become licensed as a dental therapist in this state or five years after the bill is enacted, that, to the extent possible, one of the dental hygienist members on the board also be licensed as a dental therapist.