IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2422 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2018 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve essential 
oral health care for low-income and other underserved 
individuals by breaking down barriers to care, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Action for Dental 
Health Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. VOLUNTEER DENTAL PROJECTS AND ACTION FOR 
DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM. 
Section 317M of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 247b–14) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(e) ACTION FOR DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the 
Health Resources and Service Administration, may 
award grants to or enter into contracts with eligible 
entities to collaborate with State, county, or local 
public officials and other stakeholders to develop and 
implement initiatives to accomplish any of the fol-
lowing goals: 
‘‘(A) To improve oral health education and 
dental disease prevention, including through 
community-wide prevention programs, through 
the use of dental sealants and fluoride varnish, 
and by increasing oral health literacy. 
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‘‘(B) To reduce geographic barriers, lan-
guage barriers, cultural barriers, and other 
similar barriers to the provision of dental serv-
ices. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this subsection, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ means an entity that is— 
‘‘(A) a State or local dental association; 
‘‘(B) a State oral health program; 
‘‘(C) a dental education, dental hygiene, or 
postdoctoral dental education program accred-
ited by the Commission on Dental Accredita-
tion; or 
‘‘(D) 
a 
community-based 
organization 
that— 
‘‘(i) partners with an academic insti-
tution; 
‘‘(ii) is exempt from tax under section 
501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986; and 
‘‘(iii) partners with public and private 
stakeholders to facilitate the provision of 
dental services for underserved popu-
lations.’’; and 
(3) in subsection (g), as redesignated by para-
graph (1), by striking ‘‘such sums as may be nec-
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essary for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 
2005’’ and inserting ‘‘$18,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2018 through 2022’’. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS. 
Section 340G of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 256g) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(5)— 
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(D) the establishment of dental homes for 
children and adults, including for the aged, 
blind, and disabled populations; 
‘‘(E) the establishment of initiatives to re-
duce the use of emergency departments by indi-
viduals who seek dental services more appro-
priately delivered in a dental primary care set-
ting; and 
‘‘(F) the provision of dental care to nurs-
ing home residents;’’; and 
(2) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘$25,000,000 
for the 5-fiscal year period beginning with fiscal year 
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2008’’ and inserting ‘‘$13,903,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2018 through 2022’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives February 26, 
2018. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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