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TAPD Legislative Spotlight—William (Bill) Steinhauer, DDS
Name: William (Bill) Steinhauer, DDS
Position: Legislative Director
Number of years in practice: 35 as a Pediatric Dentist
Where you went to dental school and completed residency: University of Texas Dental School at San Antonio (both)
Number of years as a TAPD member: 37 (I started as a student member.)
What made you decide to get involved as a member of the TAPD Legislative Committee: It is my passion to advocate for children and their Oral Health needs.
What is your goal for the legislative session:
1) To not have cuts in the Medicaid Dental fees;
2) to have the legislature direct HHS to partner with representatives of: organized dentistry, academia, OIG, and the DMOs for a thorough “top-to-bottle” review of the benefits and limitations of the Texas Medicaid dental program;
3) to make sure any Teledentistry legislation that may be passed this session, is designed to assist our patients to access quality care, and not be the victims of providers looking to bill for services that provide no real benefit to the patient, or even lead them to believe they are receiving a level
of care which they are not.
What have you learned in your time as a TAPD member: If TAPD is not at the table when healthcare in general, and pediatric dentistry specifically, is under discussion by any governmental body, dentistry will always be an afterthought.
What surprised you the most about the legislative process: How uninformed some legislators are and how financial contributions are often required to get access to the right people.
What are you most proud of about TAPD: We are the most involved dental specialty organization in the State, and have been able to partner with the TDA on so many issues.