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On Friday, June 12, the HHS Office of Civil Rights finalized “Nondiscrimination in Health and Health Education Programs or Activities: Delegation of Authority” (RIN 0945-AA11) which permanently repeals tagline requirements under section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, effective August 18, 2020.

This month’s column will be my last as your NADP Board Chair. Because I believe in the advancement of leadership and this organization, I want to spend my final year on the board to help develop new leaders. My term as your NADP Board Chair has been extremely rewarding, and it is an experience I will always treasure. Before I go, I want to share some highlights from the past few years and key transitions in place.

CONVERGE has reached new heights of excellence as evidenced by the growth in attendance and attendees’ feedback. Virtual CONVERGE 2020 opened the door for more participation from our member companies resulting in more than 700 attendees. In addition, the average rating for educational content was 92%!

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on NADP’s state-level advocacy in 2020. In response to the pandemic, NADP created tracking resources to follow topics like insurance grace periods, telemedicine initiatives, filing requirements, special enrollment periods, and state re-opening guidelines.

On Jan. 28, Sen. Cardin (D-MD) and Rep. Barragan (D-CA-44) introduced S.97/H.R.502, the Medicare Dental Benefit Act. This bill provides for Medicare coverage of dental and oral health services, including routine diagnostic and preventive services, basic and major dental services, and emergency care; dental prostheses are also covered.

On Friday, May 21, Rep. Clarke (D-NY) introduced the “Dental and Optometric Care Access Act of 2021” (“DOC Access” Act) H.R. 3461. The bill was cosponsored by Reps. Carter (R-GA),…

With CONVERGE less than a month away, I’m using this month’s column to highlight several aspects of the conference, including the move to a completely virtual format for 2021.

MonthlyByte     Jan. 2020   Artur Bagyants Promoted to Associate Director of Government Relations Please join NADP in congratulating Artur Bagyants on his recent promotion to NADP Associate Director…

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has posted the results of our survey of dental plans on intent to offer on Exchanges in Plan Year 2016.

Several states are considering the impact of the upcoming change in the definition of small employer to include 51-100 employees and are considering actions to either move forward with the change or delay the expansion further.

NADP will submit comments this week in response to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) paperwork reduction act notice that outlines some technical specifications around an Exchange requirement for carriers to submit machine-readable data for provider networks.