Louisiana dentists' "controversial bid to outlaw school-based mobile dental clinics cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday after a House committee made changes that would allow some clinics to continue operating," reports Jan Moller of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
The bill cleared a House committee after being changed to allow "mobile dental units owned and operated by the state or local government, federally qualified health center mobile facilities, or a school-based health clinic with permanent facilities," if in place for at least six months over the past five years, reports Sarah Chacko of The Advocate in Baton Rouge. "An exception was also added to allow the dentistry in schools in areas designated by the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry as underserved for dental care, with the approval of the school district superintendent."
Moller writes, "Opponents of House Bill 687 said the measure would still prevent many poor children from getting necessary dental care at school, and that regulation of mobile clinics is best left to professional licensing boards, not the Legislature." Supporters of the bill say mobile clinics "are unsanitary and don't provide for enough parental involvement." The clinics "have been a growing trend in Louisiana since the Legislature last year raised the Medicaid rates to the point where it became profitable for dentists to treat poor children," Moller reports. For her earlier report on the bill being stalled, click here.
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