Subject of Possible Rule Making: WAC 246-817-120 Examination content, the dental quality assurance commission (commission) is considering permanent rule making to add the Joint Commission on National Dental Examination's (JCNDE) Dental Licensure Objective Structured Clinical Examination (DLOSCE), a nonpatient-based examination, to allowable practical/clinical examinations in WAC 246-817-120.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, all regional, patient-based clinical dentist examinations are cancelled for 2020 in the United States. Graduating dentist students from the University of Washington and Oregon Health and Science University will be unable to obtain Washington state dentist licensure unless they take a practical/clinical examination.

The JCNDE has been creating the DLOSCE since 2017 with a planned release in spring of 2021. The DLOSCE is a practical/clinical examination that is computer-based and does not use live patients. In response to COVID-19, JCNDE announced an early release of the examination in June 2020. In anticipation of the release of the DLOSCE in June 2020, the commission is beginning the rule-making process. Adding DLOSCE to the list of allowable practical/clinical examinations permanently will reduce licensure barriers for graduates to choose a patient-based or a nonpatient-based examination to obtain Washington state dentist licensure.

Once the JCNDE releases the new DLOSCE the commission plans to adopt an emergency rule to immediately allow for the use of the computer-based examination. The commission intends for the emergency rule to be in place until the permanent rule is adopted.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Jennifer Santiago, P.O. Box 47852, Olympia, WA 98504, phone 360-236-4893, fax 360-236-2901, TTY 711, email jennifer.santiago@doh.wa.gov, website www.doh.wa.gov/dental, dental@doh.wa.gov.

Additional comments: Stakeholders may sign up for the program's interested parties list (GovDelivery) at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADOH/subscriber/new. All rule-making notices will be emailed via GovDelivery. Rule development will take place in open public meetings prior to a formal rule proposal and comment period.