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Committee hears support for LD 2209 to direct DHHS on new dental delivery models
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Summary
LD 2209 would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop innovative models — including hub‑and‑spoke and expanded residency programs — to increase dental access. The Maine Dental Association and board witnesses urged stakeholder inclusion; OPOR offered technical neutrality but warned against giving a licensing board member a policymaking role.
The Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services also heard LD 2209, which would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and pilot new delivery models to expand access to oral health care across Maine.
Tricia Hill, executive director of the Maine Dental Association, told the committee the association "is in full support of this bill," and recommended the stakeholder process explicitly include clinicians working outside federally qualified health centers, independent dental hygienists and dental therapists. Hill said the bill’s proposed hub‑and‑spoke model and support for specialist residency programs could help address shortages of specialists in the state.
Jeff Wallowender, who previously testified on LD 2206, urged expansion of residency‑style programs and said prior residency initiatives (including a Tufts program and a VA program at Togus) improved retention of clinicians who remain in Maine after training. He described LD 2209 as potentially "transformative" for rural access.
Penny Valancourt of OPOR reiterated that OPOR would not take a position on creating the stakeholder process but opposed placing a licensing board member in the role of representing the full board on public‑policy stakeholder discussions; she said OPOR could provide technical information to the stakeholder group instead.
The committee closed the public hearing on LD 2209 after hearing proponents and neutral testimony and moved into language reviews and work session scheduling for other bills.
