AN ACT relating to dentistry, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency.

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AN ACT relating to dentistry, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an 1
emergency. 2
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 3
Section 1. KRS 164.936 is amended to read as follows: 4
(1) The General Assembly hereby establishes the statewide Healthcare Worker Loan 5
Relief Program designed to be in alignment with the federally funded state loan 6
repayment program authorized under KRS 211.165 , except as provided in 7
subsection (3) of this sectio n, in providing student loan repayment for eligible 8
healthcare workers within the Commonwealth. The Healthcare Worker Loan Relief 9
Program shall be administered by the University of Kentucky through the Center of 10
Excellence in Rural Health, and all costs as sociated with the program, including the 11
reimbursement of any expenses incurred by the center in its administration of the 12
program, shall be funded by state appropriations and other funds held in the 13
healthcare worker loan relief fund, which shall be excluded from the comprehensive 14
funding model established in KRS 164.092. 15
(2) The board of trustees of the University of Kentucky, on behalf of the Center of 16
Excellence in Rural Health, shall adopt policies for the administration of the 17
program that are in alig nment with the policies implemented in the administration 18
of KRS 211.165 and the federally funded state loan repayment program it 19
authorizes, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, and shall include: 20
(a) The professional, certification, educ ation, employment, and worksite 21
eligibility requirements, except that the professional requirements shall also 22
grant eligibility to ophthalmologists, optometrists, and audiologists; 23
(b) Student loan eligibility requirements; 24
(c) A process to consider applications from eligible healthcare workers, except 25
the policy shall include an application cycle that is open at least biannually; 26
(d) Program admission guidelines; 27
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(e) The conditions under which admitted healthcare workers shall receive awards; 1
(f) To the extent that funding is available, the process for determining award 2
amounts, which shall include the tiering of award amounts based on provider 3
type, student loan amounts, and other facto rs, except that the policy shall not 4
require a dollar -for-dollar match component from admitted healthcare 5
workers' employers; and 6
(g) Procedures to provide repayment to loan servicers. 7
(3) Until July 1, 2036, unless extended by an act of the General Assembly: 8
(a) A dentist, as defined in KRS 313.010, who is admitted to the Healthcare 9
Worker Loan Relief Program shall be eligible for up to five (5) consecutive 10
years of service and a total maximum loan repayment award of one 11
hundred fifty thousand dollars ($15 0,000). A dentist who practices dentistry 12
in a Kentucky county that does not have an actively practicing dentist on the 13
effective date of the service agreement shall be eligible for an additional one 14
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in loan repayment; and 15
(b) A dentist owning a practice in a federally designated health professional 16
shortage area shall be eligible for a rural dental practice grant under the 17
Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for an award of up to one 18
hundred fifty thousand dollars ($15 0,000). Funds provided in this 19
paragraph shall be used for any of the following purposes: 20
1. Dental equipment and instruments; 21
2. Office renovation or construction; 22
3. Installation of electronic health record systems; or 23
4. Staffing and hiring costs. 24
(4) Funds appropriated to the Center of Excellence in Rural Health for the purpose 25
of subsection (3) of this section shall be distributed as follows: 26
(a) Seventy-five percent (75%) shall be utilized for student loan repayment for 27
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dentists under subsection (3)(a) of this section; and 1
(b) Twenty-five percent (25%) shall be utilized for rural dental practice grants 2
under subsection (3)(b) of this section. 3
(5) (a) The healthcare worker loan relief fund is hereby created as a trust fund in the 4
State Treasury to be ad ministered by the University of Kentucky on behalf of 5
the Center of Excellence in Rural Health for the purpose of providing loan 6
repayment and rural dental practice grants as described in this section. 7
(b) The trust fund shall consist of state general fund appropriations, gifts and 8
grants from public and private sources, and federal funds. All moneys 9
included in the fund shall be appropriated for the purposes set forth in this 10
section. 11
(c) Any unallotted or unencumbered balances in the trust fund shall be i nvested 12
as provided in KRS 42.500(9). Income earned from the investments shall be 13
credited to the trust fund. 14
(d) Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, any fund balance at the close of the fiscal year 15
shall not lapse but shall be carried forward to the next fiscal y ear and 16
continuously appropriated only for the purposes specified in this section. 17
Section 2. KRS 164.937 is amended to read as follows: 18
(1) The University of Kentucky shall maintain a Center of Excellence in Rural Health. 19
(2) The mission of the Center of Excellence in Rural Health shall be the improvement 20
of the health of all rural Kentuckians and the improvement of rural health care 21
systems through education, research, and service. 22
(3) The Center of Excellence in Rural Health shall: 23
(a) Support a site-based director, core faculty, and staff; 24
(b) Collect and maintain statistical and other information relating to rural health 25
status, rural health care systems, rural health policy, and other issues affecting 26
the health and well-being of rural populations; 27
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(c) Collect, analyze, interpret, disseminate, and make recommendations regarding 1
the availability, distribution, and sufficiency of the health professions 2
workforce; 3
(d) Provide educational opportunities for students committed to rural health care: 4
1. To obtain education in needed health professions as determined by the 5
workforce analyses, rotating these programs as necessary; 6
2. By testing and developing innovative models for learning; and 7
3. By reserving funds budgeted for specific educational programs that in 8
the future are deemed no longer necessa ry for use for educational 9
programs for other health professions; 10
(e) Maintain site-based family practice residencies; 11
(f) Serve as the federally designated Office of Rural Health and perform the 12
duties prescribed by the United States Health Resources and Services 13
Administration; 14
(g) Administer the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program established under 15
KRS 164.936; 16
(h) Demonstrate or provide innovative programs that improve the health of rural 17
Kentuckians and strengthen rural health care systems; and 18
(i) Advocate for rural health care. 19
(4) To the extent additional funds are appropriated, the Center of Excellence in Rural 20
Health shall establish additional sites throughout the Commonwealth as necessary 21
to achieve the mission of the center. 22
(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the study of rural health 23
policies, workforce analyses, or the training of health professionals in or for rural or 24
medically underserved areas by other state universities. 25
(6) (a) The University of Kentucky shall rep ort to the Council on Postsecondary 26
Education and the Legislative Research Commission a detailed, audited 27
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statement of expenditures for each program function in the Center of 1
Excellence for Rural Health Care by September 1 of each year which 2
enumerates expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. 3
(b) Until July 1, 2036, unless extended by an act of the General Assembly, the 4
report under this subsection shall include, at a minimum, the following 5
additional information on the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program: 6
1. The number of participating dentists and dentistry practices; 7
2. The geographic distribution of participating dentists and dentistry 8
practices, including identification of participating dentists and 9
dentistry practices located in federally designat ed health professional 10
shortage areas; 11
3. Retention rates of participating dentists and dentistry practices; 12
4. State patient access metrics; and 13
5. Program expenditures. 14
Section 3. KRS 313.035 is amended to read as follows: 15
(1) The board shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS 16
Chapter 13A relating to dentists. The administrative regulations shall include the 17
classification of and licensure of dentists, by examination or credentials, the 18
licensure of specialists, student limited licenses, faculty limited licenses, 19
reciprocity, retirement of a license, reinstatement of a license, charity licenses, [ 20
and] conscious sedation and anesthesia permits , and the Rural Dental Fellows 21
Network. 22
(2) Renewal programs shall be organized to include continuing education approved by 23
the board. 24
(3) For the purposes of licensure of specialists the board shall only recognize fields of 25
specialty duly recognized and approved by the American Dental Association. 26
Individuals licensed as specialists shall not practice outside of that specialty except 27
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as provided for in charitable dentistry as defined by administrative regulation, 1
during a declared disaster by order of the Governor, or when the special needs of 2
the patient req uire they be followed past the age of eighteen (18) by a pediatric 3
dentist. 4
(4) No person licensed under this chapter, who in good faith renders emergency care at 5
the scene of an emergency, shall be liable for any civil damages as a result of any 6
acts or omissions by such person in rendering the emergency care. 7
(5) Any dentist who serves on any committee, board, commission, or other entity 8
which is duly constituted by any licensed hospital, dental society or association 9
affiliated with the American Dental Association, dental care foundation affiliated 10
with such denta l society or association or governmental or quasi -governmental 11
agency for the purpose of reviewing and evaluating the dental acts of other dentists, 12
or dental auxiliary personnel, shall not be required to respond in damages for any 13
action taken by him or h er in good faith as a member of such committee, board, 14
commission, or other entity. 15
(6) Licensed dentists may prescribe any drug necessary within the scope of their 16
practice. 17
(7) Dentists may sign death certificates the same as physicians, when necessary i n the 18
line of their profession. 19
(8) Nothing in this chapter shall apply to a legally licensed doctor of medicine unless 20
he or she practices dentistry as a specialty. 21
(9) Nothing in this chapter shall apply to a practitioner of dentistry duly licensed by 22
another state or the District of Columbia while making a clinical demonstration 23
before a dental society, convention, association of dentists, or a dental school. 24
(10) (a) The board shall pilot a Rural Dental Fellows Network for the purpose of the 25
retention o f dental professionals in the Commonwealth, to be available to 26
all Kentucky dentists, to provide: 27
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1. Individual stipends for renewal programs in accordance with 1
subsection (2) of this section; 2
2. Mentorship programs; 3
3. Telehealth access in accordance with KRS 313.060; 4
4. Annual regional convenings; 5
5 Access to the Rural Dental Fellows Network at no cost for all dentists 6
awarded funding under subsection (3) of Section 1 of this Act; and 7
(b) The board shall operate the pilot until July 1, 2036, unless extend ed by an 8
act of the General Assembly. 9
Section 4. The Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services shall increase 10
reimbursement rates for dental services delivered to Medicaid beneficiaries in a federally 11
designated health p rofessional shortage area by twenty -five percent (25%). A state -12
funded technical assistance unit shall provide credentialing and billing support for rural 13
providers. 14
Section 5. There is hereby appropriated General Fund moneys in the amount of: 15
(1) $4,400,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026 -2028 fiscal biennium to the Center 16
of Excellence in Rural Health budget unit under the University of Kentucky for the 17
purpose of subsection (3) of Section 1 of this Act; 18
(2) $600,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Office of 19
the Kentucky Board of Dentistry for the purpose of implementation of the Rural Dental 20
Fellows Network created in Section 3 of this Act; and 21
(3) $1,000,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026 -2028 fiscal biennium to the 22
Department for Medicaid Services for the purpose of providing increased reimbursement 23
rates in accordance with Section 4 of this Act. 24
Section 6. If the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the Department for 25
Medicaid Services determines that a state plan amendment, waiver, or any other form of 26
authorization or approval from any federal agency to implement Section 4 of this Act is 27
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necessary to prevent the loss of federal funds or to comply w ith federal law, the cabinet 1
or department: 2
(1) Shall, within 90 days after the effective date of this Act, request the necessary 3
federal authorization or approval to implement Section 4 of this Act; and 4
(2) May only delay implementation of the provisions of Section 4 of this Act for 5
which federal authorization or approval was deemed necessary until the federal 6
authorization or approval is granted. 7
Section 7. Whereas it is critical to ensure the provision of accessible de ntal care 8
to the citizens of the Commonwealth, an emergency is declared to exist, and this Act 9
takes effect July 1, 2026. 10
Section 8. This Act may be cited as the Rural Dental Incentive and Access 11
Program Act. 12