(a)  The board, with the approval of the director, may adopt regulations requiring any person, including, but not limited to, corporations, healthcare facilities, health-maintenance organizations, organizations, federal, state, or local governmental agencies, or peer-review boards to report to the board any conviction, determination, or finding that a licensed dentist, dental hygienist, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant has committed unprofessional conduct as defined by § 5-31.1-10, or to report information that indicates that a licensed dentist, dental hygienist, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant may not be able to practice dentistry, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting with reasonable skill and safety to patients as the result of any mental or physical condition. The regulations include the reporting requirements prescribed in subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (b)(3) of this section.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-20

  • Board: means the Rhode Island board of examiners in dentistry or any committee or subcommittee of the board. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Dental administrator: means the administrator of the Rhode Island board of examiners in dentistry. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Dental hygienist: means a person with a license to practice dental hygiene in this state under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Dentist: means a person with a license to practice dentistry in this state under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Department: means the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Director: means the director of the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Health-maintenance organization: means a public or private organization licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of Title 23 or chapter 41 of Title 27. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Healthcare facility: means any institutional health service provider licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of Title 23. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
  • Peer-review board: means any committee of a state, local, dental or dental hygiene association or society, or a committee of any licensed healthcare facility, or the dental staff of the committee, or any committee of a dental care foundation or health-maintenance organization, or any staff committee or consultant of a hospital, medical, or dental service corporation, the function of which, or one of the functions of which, is to evaluate and improve the quality of dental care rendered by providers of dental care service or to determine that dental care services rendered were professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable standard of care or that the cost for dental care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers of professional dental care services in the area and includes a committee functioning as a utilization review committee under the provisions of Pub. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, trust or estate, state or political subdivision, or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-1
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • unprofessional conduct: as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, the following items or any combination of them and may be defined by regulations established by the board with the approval of the director:

    (1)  Fraudulent or deceptive procuring or use of a license or limited registration;

    (2)  All advertising of dental, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting business that is intended, or has a tendency, to deceive the public or a dentist advertising as a specialty in an area of dentistry unless the dentist:

    (i)  Is a diplomat of or a fellow in a specialty board accredited or recognized by the American Dental Association; or

    (ii)  Has completed a postgraduate program approved by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association;

    (3)  Conviction of a felony; conviction of a crime arising out of the practice of dentistry, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting;

    (4)  Abandonment of a patient;

    (5)  Dependence upon controlled substances, habitual drunkenness, or rendering professional services to a patient while the dentist, dental hygienist, DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant, or limited registrant is intoxicated or incapacitated by the use of drugs;

    (6)  Promotion by a dentist, dental hygienist, DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant, or limited registrant of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances, or goods or services provided for a patient in a manner as to exploit the patient for the financial gain of the dentist, dental hygienist, DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant, or limited registrant;

    (7)  Immoral conduct of a dentist, dental hygienist, DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant, or limited registrant in the practice of dentistry, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting;

    (8)  Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene;

    (9)  Willful omission to file or record, or willfully impeding or obstructing a filing or recording, or inducing another person to omit to file or record dental or other reports as required by law;

    (10)  Failure to furnish details of a patient's dental record to succeeding dentists or dental care facility upon proper request pursuant to this chapter;

    (11)  Solicitation of professional patronage by agents or persons or profiting from acts of those representing themselves to be agents of the licensed dentist, dental hygienist, or limited registrant;

    (12)  Division of fees, or agreeing to split or divide the fees, received for professional services for any person for bringing to or referring a patient;

    (13)  Agreeing with clinical or bioanalytical laboratories to accept payments from those laboratories for individual tests or test series for patients, or agreeing with dental laboratories to accept payment from those laboratories for work referred;

    (14)  Willful misrepresentation in treatments;

    (15)  Practicing dentistry with an unlicensed dentist or practicing dental hygiene with an unlicensed dental hygienist or practicing DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting with an unlicensed DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant, except in an accredited training program, or with a dental assistant in accordance with the rules and regulations of the board or aiding or abetting those unlicensed persons in the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene;

    (16)  Gross and willful overcharging for professional services, including filing of false statements for collection of fees for which services are not rendered, or willfully making or assisting in making a false claim or deceptive claim or misrepresenting a material fact for use in determining rights to dental care or other benefits;

    (17)  Offering, undertaking, or agreeing to cure or treat disease by a secret method, procedure, treatment, or medicine;

    (18)  Professional or mental incompetence;

    (19)  Incompetent, negligent, or willful misconduct in the practice of dentistry, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting, including the rendering of unnecessary dental services and any departure from, or the failure to conform to, the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing dental, dental hygiene, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assisting practice in his or her area of expertise as is determined by the board. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-31.1-10

(b)  The following reports, in writing, shall be filed with the board:

(1)  Every insurer providing professional liability insurance to a dentist, dental hygienist, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant licensed under the provisions of this chapter must send a complete report to the board as to any formal notice of any claim, settlement of any claim or cause of actions, or final judgment rendered in any cause of action for damages for death or personal injury caused by a dentist’s, dental hygienist’s, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant’s negligence, error, or omission in practice or his or her rendering of unauthorized professional services. This report shall be sent within thirty (30) days after service of the complaint or notice, settlement, judgment, or arbitration award on the parties. All of those reports shall present an in-depth, factual summary of the claim in question.

(2)  All hospital and licensed healthcare facilities including, but not limited to, nursing homes and health-maintenance organizations and the director of the department of health must report to the board, within thirty (30) days of the action, any action, disciplinary or otherwise, taken for any reason, that limits, suspends, or revokes a dentist’s or dental hygienist’s privilege to practice or requires supervision of a dentist, either through formal action by the institution or faculty or through any voluntary agreement with the dentist.

(3)  Within ten (10) days after a judgment by a court of this state that a dentist or dental hygienist licensed under the provisions of this chapter has been convicted of a crime or is civilly liable for any death or personal injury caused by his or her negligence, error, or omission in his or her practice or his or her rendering unauthorized professional services, the clerk of the court that rendered the judgment shall report the judgment to the board.

(c)  The board shall report any changes of privileges of which it is aware to the board of trustees or other appropriate body of all licensed hospitals and health-maintenance organizations within thirty (30) days.

(d)  The contents of any report file are confidential and exempt from public disclosure, except that it may be reviewed:

(1)  By the licensee involved, or his or her counsel or authorized representative, who may submit any additional exculpatory or explanatory statements or other information, which statements or other information are included in the file; or

(2)  By the dental administrator, a representative of the board, or an investigator for the board, who has been assigned to review the activities of a licensed dentist, dental hygienist, or DAANCE-certified maxillofacial surgery assistant.

(e)  Upon determination that a report is without merit, the board’s records may be purged of information relating to the report.

(f)  If any person refuses to furnish a required report, the board may petition the superior court of any county in which that person resides or is found, and the superior court shall issue to the court’s person an order to furnish the required report. Any failure to comply with that order constitutes civil contempt.

(g)  Every individual, dental association, dental society, dental hygiene association, dental auxiliary association, hospital, healthcare facility, health-maintenance organizations, peer-review board, dental service bureau, health insurance carrier or agent, professional standards review organization, and agency of the federal, state, or local government is immune from civil liability, whether direct or derivative, for providing information to the board in good faith pursuant to this statute or the regulations outlined in subsection (a) or requirements of subsection (b).

(h)  Nondisclosure agreements are prohibited insofar as they forbid parties from making reports regarding competency and/or unprofessional conduct to the board of examiners in dentistry.

(i)  The board of examiners in dentistry, with the approval of the director, shall promulgate rules and regulations establishing standards for hospital or health-maintenance organization supervision of dentists or dental hygienists by peer-review committees. Those regulations, including without limiting their generality, shall require that each hospital or health-maintenance organization report annually to the board the activities, findings, studies, and determination of its peer-review committees.

History of Section.
P.L. 1987, ch. 358, § 2; P.L. 1997, ch. 30, art. 28, § 2; P.L. 2014, ch. 95, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 163, § 1.