At its Annual Meeting in November the Health Insurance and Long-Term Care Issues Committee of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) passed an amended Dental Reform Model Law.  The law was up for its five-year renewal.  NCOIL is an influential organization of state legislators interested in insurance law. Dr. David Keller represented AGD at the meeting and spoke with legislators on the Committee about the issues dentists have with insurer payment practices.

The Model Bill includes sections on third-party network leasing, prior authorization and the use of virtual credit cards.  The amendments this year proposed to make the third-party leasing and virtual credit card provisions opt-in versus the existing language that requires the dentist to opt-out.  After nearly a year of negotiations the version that passed changed the virtual credit card language to an opt-in, but left the third-party network leasing as opt-out.

On the recommendation of the Legislative and Governmental Affairs and Dental Practice Councils the AGD Board voted to have AGD become a sponsor of NCOIL and to attend the NCOIL meetings to advocate on behalf of general dentists.

Impact on General Dentistry: NCOIL model bills are looked upon highly by rank-and-file state legislators.  This model will make it easier to enact opt-in virtual credit card legislation.  AGD will work within NCOIL to expand dental insurance legislation that improves the practice environment in the states.