Chapter 150-8 UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
The Board has the authority to refuse to grant a license to an
applicant or to discipline a dentist or dental hygienist licensed in Georgia if
that individual has engaged in unprofessional conduct. For the purpose of the
implementation and enforcement of this rule, unprofessional conduct is defined
to include, but not be limited to, the following:
| (a) |
Failing to conform to current
recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) for
preventing transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B Virus, and
all other communicable diseases to patients. It is the responsibility of all
currently licensed dentists and dental hygienists to maintain familiarity with
these recommendations, which are considered by the Board to be minimum
standards of acceptable and prevailing dental practice. |
| (b) |
Violating any lawful order of the
Board; |
| (c) |
Violating any Consent
Agreement entered into with the Georgia Board of Dentistry or any other
licensing board; |
| (d) |
Violating
statutes and rules relating to or regulating the practice of dentistry,
including, but not limited to, the following:
| 1. |
The Georgia Dental Practice Act (O.C.G.A.
T. 43, Ch. 11); |
| 2. |
The Georgia
Controlled Substances Act (O.C.G.A. T. 16, Ch. 13, Art. 2); |
| 3. |
The Georgia Dangerous Drug Act (O.C.G.A.
T. 16, Ch. 23, Art. 3); |
| 4. |
The
Federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C.A., Ch. 13); |
| 5. |
Rules and Regulations of the Georgia Board
of Dentistry; |
| 6. |
Rules of the
Georgia State Board of Pharmacy, Ch. 480, Rules and Regulations of the State of
Georgia, in particular those relating to the prescribing and dispensing of
drugs, Ch. 480-28; |
| 7. |
Code of
Federal Regulations Relating to Controlled Substances (21 C.F.R. Par.
1306); |
| 8. |
O.C.G.A. T. 31-33 Health
Records. A dentist must send a patient a copy of his/her records upon request
where the request complies with O.C.G.A. Title 31-33, et. seq., even if the
patient has an outstanding balance with the dentist, but the patient may be
required to pay costs of copying and mailing records and for search, retrieval,
certification, and other direct administrative costs related to compliance with
the request. |
| 9. |
The Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Pub.
L. 104-191). |
|
| (e) |
Failing to maintain appropriate records
whenever controlled drugs are prescribed. Appropriate records, at a minimum,
shall contain the following:
| 1. |
The patient's
name and address; |
| 2. |
The date, drug
name, drug quantity, and diagnosis for all controlled drugs; |
| 3. |
Records concerning the patient's history.
|
|
| (f) |
Prescribing
controlled substances for a habitual drug user in the absence of substantial
dental justification; |
| (g) |
Prescribing drugs for other than legitimate dental purposes; |
| (h) |
Any departure from, or failure to conform
to, the minimum standards of acceptable and prevailing dental practice.
Guidelines to be used by the Board in defining such standards may include, but
are not restricted to:
| 1. |
Diagnosis.
Evaluation of a dental problem using means such as history, oral examination,
laboratory, and radiographic studies, when applicable. |
| 2. |
Treatment. Use of medications and other
modalities based on generally accepted and approved indications, with proper
precautions to avoid adverse physical reactions, habituation or
addiction. |
| 3. |
Emergency Service.
Dentists shall be obliged to make reasonable arrangements for the emergency
care of their patients of record. For purposes of this rule, a "patient of
record" is defined as a patient who has received dental treatment on at least
one occasion within the preceding year. |
| 4. |
Records. Maintenance of records to furnish
documentary evidence of the course of the patient's medical/dental evaluation,
treatment and response. A dentist shall be required to maintain a patient's
complete dental record, which may include, but is not limited to, the
following: treatment notes, evaluations, diagnoses, prognoses, x-rays,
photographs, diagnostic models, laboratory reports, laboratory prescriptions
(slips), drug prescriptions, insurance claim forms, billing records, and other
technical information used in assessing a patient's condition. Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, a dentist shall be required to maintain a patient's
complete treatment record for no less than a period of ten (10) years from the
date of the patient's last office visit. |
|
| (i) |
Practicing fraud, forgery, deception or
conspiracy in connection with an examination for licensure or an
application; |
| (j) |
Knowingly
submitting any misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent misrepresentation
on a claim form, bill or statement to a third party; |
| (k) |
Knowingly submitting a claim form, bill
or statement asserting a fee for any given dental appliance, procedure or
service rendered to a patient covered by a dental insurance plan, which fee is
greater than the fee the dentist usually accepts as payment in full for any
given dental appliance, procedure or service; |
| (l) |
Abrogating or waiving the co-payment
provisions of a third party contract by accepting the payment received from a
third party as payment in full, unless the abrogation or waiver of such
co-payment or the intent to abrogate or waive such copayment is fully
disclosed, in writing, to the third party at the time the claim is submitted
for payment. For the purpose of this rule, a "third party" is any party to a
dental prepayment contract that may collect premiums, assume financial risks,
pay claims, and/or provide administrative service. |
| (m) |
Falsifying, altering or destroying
treatment records in contemplation of an investigation by the Board or a
lawsuit being filed by a patient; |
| (n) |
Committing any act of sexual intimacy,
abuse, misconduct or exploitation related to the licensee's practice of
dentistry or dental hygiene; |
| (o) |
Delegating to unlicensed or otherwise unqualified personnel duties that may
only be lawfully performed by a dentist or dental hygienist; |
| (p) |
Using improper, unfair or unethical
measures to draw dental patronage from the practice of another
licensee; |
| (q) |
Terminating a
dentist/patient relationship by a dentist, unless notice of the termination is
provided to the patient. A "dentist/patient relationship" exists where a
dentist has provided dental treatment to a patient on at least one occasion
within the preceding year.
| 1. |
"Termination of
a dentist/patient relationship by the dentist" means that the dentist is
unavailable to provide dental treatment to a patient, under the following
circumstances:
| (i) |
The office where the
patient has received dental care has been closed permanently or for a period in
excess of (30) days; |
| (ii) |
The
dentist discontinues treatment of a particular patient for any reason,
including non-payment of fees for dental services, although the dentist
continues to provide treatment to other patients at the office
location; |
|
| 2. |
The dentist
who is the owner or custodian of the patient's dental records shall mail notice
of the termination of the dentist's relationship to patient, which notice shall
provide the following:
| (i) |
The date that the
termination becomes effective, and the date on which the dentist/patient
relationship may resume, if applicable; |
| (ii) |
A means for the patient to obtain a copy
of his or her dental records. The notice shall be mailed at least fourteen (14)
days prior to the date of termination of the dentist/patient relationship,
unless the termination results from an unforeseen emergency (such as sudden
injury or illness), in which case the notice shall be mailed as soon as
practicable under the circumstances. |
|
|
| (r) |
Knowingly certifying falsely to the
accuracy or completeness of dental records provided to the Board. |
| (1) |
A dentist shall not give rebates or split
fees with a referral source. |
| (1) |
A licensee:
| (a) |
shall not permit animals or pets in any
area of a dental office or operation in which dental procedures are performed,
or in any location where tools, instruments, patient charts, medications, or
other items regularly moved into and out of areas in which dental procedures
are performed are stored. |
| (b) |
shall
not permit animals or pets in any other area of a dental office or operation
unless physically restrained in a manner that ensures the animals or pets
cannot access the areas described in the preceding paragraph, and unless
maintained within a fully enclosed tank or similar enclosure that ensures hair,
dander, fecal particulates, or other similar contaminants, whether airborne or
otherwise, cannot be transmitted or transported to the areas described in the
preceding paragraph. An air filter or filtration system is to be used when
animals or pets other than fish are maintained in such an enclosure. The
detection of odor from any animals so maintained shall raise the presumption
that the subject animal enclosure does not meet the requirements of this
paragraph. |
|
| (2) |
The
restrictions of this Rule shall not apply to guide dogs and service dogs as
permitted by Title 30 of the Official Code of Georgia or to service animals as
permitted under the Americans with Disabilities Act (
42 U.S.C. §§ 12101, et. seq.). |
