Starting Jan. 1, California's Medicaid program will pay for dental services performed by a hygienist or other professional who is supervised by a dentist via telemedicine.
AB 1174, signed into law over the weekend, would also expand the list of services that could be delivered through teledentistry to include temporary filling placement and other procedures. The new law requires patients be given written notice explaining the teledentistry system and would prohibit dentists from supervising more than five patient encounters simultaneously.
Advocates say the new law will save the state's Medicaid program money in the long run, as it will improve access to preventive dental care. "That's the real key. It's a way of getting people who are outside the system into the system," said James Stephens, DDS, the president of the California Dental Association, in a Kaiser Health News report. "Preventive care costs so much less."
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