Arizona legislators are hoping to move to a managed care system for the delivery of oral health care. If Senate Bill 1473 passed, then beginning January 1, 2013, the administrator of the Health Care Cost Containment System must prepare and issue a request for proposals, at least once every five years, to two or more dental health plans, for the delivery of all dental care services. The dental health plans chosen will compensate the providers on a fee-for-service basis. The bill is still in committee awaiting a hearing.

The legislature in Utah is proposing a similar measure. House Bill 125 authorizes the state Medicaid plan to pilot dental health care payment and delivery reform models. The bill establishes some criteria for the project and requires the Medicaid program to evaluate cost and access to dental care in the pilot program. The bill was introduced on Feb. 1, 2012.

Colorado legislators are hoping preventative measures will lead to better health care in the long run. Senate Bill 108, introduced on Jan. 31, 2012, includes dental services as a benefit for pregnant women under Colorado's Medicaid program.

Dental hygienists in Illinois may soon have add to their current scope of practice. House Bill 4467, and it’s companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 2597, allows a dental hygienist to be employed or retained by a health care facility, program, or nonprofit organization to perform dental hygiene services without the patient first being examined by a licensed dentist. The hygienist may only practice in these settings if they have engaged in active practice of clinical dental hygiene for a minimum of 2,400 hours in the past 18 months or a career total of 3,000 hours. The bills were introduced in their respective houses at the end of January.

Most likely as a method to gain new practitioners, New Jersey legislators have introduced Senate Bill 1404, allowing for a gross income tax deduction on the first $200,000 earned by new physicians and dentists in first seven taxable years of practice in New Jersey.