Protecting Dentists and Patients
You can’t afford to be a silent partner in decisions that affect your business, your practice and your profession. Legislative proposals directly impact dentistry in Georgia, and we need to have meaningful input. Political involvement is just good business.
Membership in the Georgia Dental Association helps us work for legislation that helps you.
Recently, these efforts have included:
- During COVID-19 pandemic, worked with Gov. Kemp and various state agencies to ensure that dentistry was classified as “essential healthcare” so that dentists were able to return to full scope of practice with limited interruption.
- Passed legislation establishing limited legal immunity for healthcare providers and business owners for alleged COVID-19 transmission claims by members of the public.
- Passed legislation allowing healthcare providers to opt-out of receiving insurance reimbursements made by virtual credit card.
- Advocated for the passage of legislation regulating the practice of prior authorizations by insurers, which allows a healthcare provider to have a discussion with a clinical peer employed by an insurer over the medical necessity of a procedure before the insurer issues an adverse determination.
- Passed legislation to help healthcare providers and state regulators more efficiently identify insurance plans that are not subject to ERISA for the purpose of enforcing Georgia’s assignment of benefits and prompt pay laws.
- Ensured that Georgia’s surprise billing law did not interfere with a patient’s choice of healthcare provider and that it did not create more issues for out-of-network providers.
- Secured state funding for incremental increases in dental Medicaid reimbursement rates for the most common preventative and restorative procedures.