The department of health shall collaborate with the New Mexico board of dental health care and provide to the legislative health and human services committee and the legislative finance committee the following reports:

A. by October 1, 2020 and by each October 1 thereafter, a report relating to access to dental health care. The department shall compile for the report at least the following information with analysis and recommendations for legislative action relating to this information:

(1) the status of dental health care professional education loan-for-service programming;

(2) the feasibility of establishing a program allowing bachelor of arts degree recipients to matriculate directly to dental school for a doctor of dental medicine or doctor of dental surgery degree;

(3) the status of the state's medicaid program, including:

(a) simplification of administrative procedures regarding the provision of dental health care to medicaid recipients; and

(b) changes to reimbursement levels that would encourage dental health care professionals to accept more medicaid recipients as patients;

(4) the number of dental health care professionals taking advantage of the rural health care practitioner tax credit;

(5) other timely issues as determined by the New Mexico board of dental health care to have an impact on access to or the delivery of dental health care in New Mexico; and

(6) the identification of activities in the dental therapist's scope of practice that require dental therapy post-graduate clinical experience; and

B. by October 1, 2020 and by October 1 every two years thereafter, a report on the status of the dental therapist licensure program, including the:

(1) name and number of educational institutions offering accreditation of a dental therapy educational program;

(2) number of students enrolled in each dental therapy educational program, per educational institution;

(3) number of licensed dental hygienists enrolled in dental therapy educational programs, per educational institution;

(4) number of students who have graduated from dental therapy educational programs;

(5) name and number of locations where students are completing dental therapy post-graduate experience;

(6) number of graduates practicing under general supervision;

(7) practice location for all licensed dental therapists in the state, by county; and

(8) number of dental therapists in each county.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 107, § 12.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 107, § 19 made Laws 2019, ch. 107, § 12 effective June 14, 2019.

Temporary provisions. — Laws 2019, ch. 107, § 17 provided that the department of health shall conduct an outcome report on the first five years of dental therapy practice in the state pursuant to this 2019 act. At a date five years following the date of the first issuance of a license to practice dental therapy in the state, the department of health shall consult with the New Mexico board of dental health care, the New Mexico dental hygienists' association and the New Mexico dental association to compile and issue a report to the legislative health and human services committee of the department's findings and recommendations regarding dental therapy, including:

A. its efficacy, effectiveness and cost;

B. its impact on access to dental health care;

C. the distribution of dental therapists statewide;

D. demographic representation among dental therapists;

E. issues related to supervision of dental therapists and their scope of practice;

F. evaluation of services delivered under indirect supervision; and

G. evaluation of services delivered under general supervision for recommendation to indirect supervision.