The ADA advocates tirelessly to keep federal rules and regulations reasonable, effective, and evidence-based—for dentists and patients alike. Though not exhaustive, below is a list of regulatory issues garnering attention at the national level.
Regulatory Reform
Learn what the ADA is doing minimize the regulatory burden on dental practices.
- Webinar: The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Technology hosted the webinar “Advancing Information Sharing and Understanding the Information Blocking Regulations.” The one hour webinar covers key aspects of information blocking regulations and explains how the rule applies to dental practices. Visit ADA.org/advocacy.
Federal Agencies
- March 20, 2023—Letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed rule on electronic health care attachments (PDF)
- March 13, 2023—Comments from the American Dental Association (ADA) and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) on the interoperability and prior authorization proposed rule. (PDF)
- December 8, 2021—Coalition letter behalf of the Oral Health Pandemic Response Workgroup to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Micky Tripathi, PhD, MPP, asking to convene key individuals and organizations to examine the current status of the integration of medical care and dental care data and develop plans to promote oral health policies. (PDF)
- FACT SHEET —Cures Act Rule on Information Blocking and Interoperability.(PDF)
Federal Agencies
- January 31, 2023—ADA Comments on HHS’ proposal to better align the requirements of two regulations governing the confidentiality of patient substance use disorder records: HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2. (PDF)
- May 6, 2021— Comments on the HHS Office of Civil Rights on HIPAA proposed privacy rules to support and remove barriers to coordinated care. (PDF)
- February 12, 2019—Comments responding to an HHS Office of Civil Rights request for information about potential unintended consequences of modifying HIPAA privacy rules to support and remove barriers to coordinated care. (PDF)
Federal Agencies
- August 20, 2020— Comments on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed health breach notification rule, which would require vendors of personal health records and related entities to notify consumers following a breach involving unsecured information. (PDF)
- July 11, 2019 —Letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate false claims made by SmileDirect, LLC to entice consumers to purchase its products and services. (PDF)
- June 28, 2019 —Comments regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) efforts to combat unlawful robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing. (PDF)
Federal Agencies
- January 5, 2023—Comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on deceptive online reviews.(PDF)
- December 6 2022 —Comments to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) request for information (RFI) on the possibility of establishing a National Directory of Healthcare Providers & Services (NDH) that could serve as a “centralized data hub” for healthcare provider facility and entity directory information nationwide.(PDF)
- November 14, 2022 —Comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to the request for information on surprise billing (PDF).
- September 23, 2022‐Letter to HHS on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Section 1557, Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities (PDF).
- September 6, 2022— Letter to the HRSA Chief Dental Officer on Title VII grants, Health Professional Shortage Areas, Action for Dental Health, and Investment in Primary Care. (PDF).
- February 15, 2022— Letter to the new Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator outlining the ADA's priorities for the agency. (PDF)
- December 8, 2021—Coalition letter on behalf of the Oral Health Pandemic Response Workgroup asking the Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral (ADM), Rachel L. Levine, MD to provide leadership throughout the Department to ensure that oral health is recognized as integral to overall health and included, as appropriate, in HHS’ activities and deliberations. (PDF)
- November 5, 2021—;Comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on its draft strategic plan for fiscal years 2022-2026. (PDF)
- July 29, 2019— Comments responding to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) request for information about ways to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens for clinicians, providers, patients and their families. (PDF)
- January 31, 2019—Letter urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to clarify whether dentists must purchase surety bonds if they are providing obstructive sleep apnea devices (oral appliances) to Medicare beneficiaries. (PDF)
- November 19, 2018—Letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on their proposal to remove the requirement to provide or obtain routine emergency dental care for hospital and critical access hospital swing-bed patients. (PDF)