DENTAL ASSESSMENT; SCHOOL REQ.                                                   H.B. 4223 (H-1):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 4223 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Scott VanSingel

House Committee:  Families, Children and Seniors

                             Ways and Means

Senate Committee:  Health Policy and Human Services

CONTENT

The bill would amend Part 93 (Hearing and Vision) of the Public Health Code to do the following:

-- Change the heading of Part 93 to "Hearing, Vision, and Dental".

-- Beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, require a parent, guardian, or person in loco parentis applying to have a child registered for the first time in kindergarten or first grade to ensure that a dentist or dental hygienist conducted a dental oral assessment on the child that met certain requirements, or ensure that a governmental entity or person selected by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) conducted the assessment.

-- By the 2020-2021 school year, require the DHHS to establish and maintain a dental oral assessment program to provide assessments to a child residing in the State whose parent, guardian, or person in loco parentis failed to meet the requirement described above.

-- Require the DHHS to establish and maintain a dental oral assessment program by contracting with a government entity or person that met certain requirements.

-- Require a person conducting a dental oral assessment to issue a written statement clearly indicating that follow-up treatment was required, if the assessment indicated that the child required follow-up care.

-- Specify that the bill's provisions related to the dental oral assessment requirement and dental oral assessment program would not apply in a fiscal year in which the Legislature did not appropriate money for the program.

MCL 333.9307 et al.                                                 Legislative Analyst:  Tyler VanHuyse

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have a negative fiscal impact on the Department of Health and Human Services and an indeterminate negative fiscal impact on local units of government, although operation of the dental screening clinics would be subject to appropriation from the Legislature. Under the bill, State costs would increase by approximately $332,000 per year, while local costs would increase by approximately $2.6 million per year, for a total increase of approximately $2.9 million per year. Similar to the funding for the vision and hearing clinics, funding for local costs stemming from operation of the dental clinics would be appropriated to the DHHS, and then distributed to the government entity or person with which the Department had contracted. Some of the costs of the dental screening program could be offset, depending on the extent that children receiving dental screenings had insurance coverage (either through Healthy Kids Dental or private insurance). Local units of government could face increased costs if the Department contracted with local public health departments to operate the dental screening clinics and the costs to operate the program exceeded the funding provided by the State or cost offsets resulting from reimbursements from other insurance coverage.

The enrolled fiscal year (FY) 2019-2020 DHHS budget included $2.0 million General Fund/General Purpose for a dental screening program for children entering school; however, it was vetoed by the Governor.

In the FY 2018-2019 budget, $5.2 million Gross was allocated to local public health departments with $2.6 million Gross going to support vision clinics and hearing clinics. According to the DHHS, the program provides over one million vision or hearing screenings annually.

Date Completed:  10-21-19                                              Fiscal Analyst:  Ellyn Ackerman

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.