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Law360 (April 29, 2020, 7:35 PM EDT) -- The dentists' lobby is urging the FCC to release telehealth money that Congress provided in the coronavirus recovery package to all dental practitioners to help them and their patients struggling through the pandemic, in what would be a policy shift for the agency.
The American Dental Association penned a letter on behalf of 163,000 members to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, asking him to expand the telehealth program's eligibility criteria so that it includes all dentists.
The FCC's current policy limits participation in the COVID-19 Telehealth Program to health care providers that fall within the eight categories of health care providers detailed in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the letter notes.
Those categories, which generally exclude dental practices, are: post-secondary educational institutions offering health care instruction, teaching hospitals, and medical schools; community health centers or health centers providing health care to migrants; local health departments or agencies; community mental health centers; not-for-profit hospitals; rural health clinics; skilled nursing facilities; and consortia of health care providers consisting of one or more entities falling into the first seven categories.
The ADA's letter goes on to point out that while Congress allowed the FCC to limit telehealth funds to such providers, it's not required to do so.
With stay-at-home orders and social distancing policies making it increasingly difficult to obtain dental care, the ADA described a crisis facing the profession if providers are unable to at least advise patients remotely.
"The ADA respectfully requests that this program be extended to all dental practices, regardless of size, location, or for-profit status," the ADA told Pai. "Telehealth, including teledentistry, is an important way to ensure access to care for patients during a pandemic."
According to Monday's letter, dentists use virtual screening to determine the nature of patient dental emergencies. The ADA Interim Guidance for Minimizing Risk of COVID-19 Transmission urges dentists to "make every effort to interview the patient by telephone, text monitoring system, or video conference before the visit."
"Video conference is an especially effective way to screen dental emergencies," the ADA said. "But dentists who are facing significant economic burdens due to the pandemic need access to FCC funds in order to afford teledentistry costs such as software to electronically message and screen patients, upgrades to the office computer system, upgrades to the office internet, extra-oral X-ray imaging equipment, digital sensors and X-ray units, and digital cameras and intra-oral cameras."
That's the case regardless of the dental practice's size, location, or for-profit status, the group said.
FCC officials said in March that they are moving as swiftly as possible to distribute $200 million in telehealth subsidies that lawmakers provided as part of the pandemic relief package. And more money could eventually be on the way for the FCC to support broadband in health care, with Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Don Young, R-Alaska, unveiling a bill April 10 that would more than triple the agency's $605 million budget for the Rural Health Care Program and make more health care providers eligible for support.
The ADA noted that on March 16, the ADA called upon dentists to postpone elective procedures, and during the week of April 6, a survey of dentists across the country found that almost 80% report they are only seeing emergency patients.
"Dentists are only seeing emergencies in order to slow community spread, preserve medical supplies, and relieve emergency departments" from seeing dental patients, the ADA said.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a press inquiry Wednesday.
The ADA's letter was sent from Chad Gehani, the group's president, and Kathleen O'Loughlin, its executive director.
--Additional reporting by Kelcee Griffis and Anne Cullen. Editing by John Campbell.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
