Provides that no contract between a dental plan or other healthcare entity and a dentist requires the dentist to accept exclusively by virtual credit cards.

Plain-English Summary

This bill is about how dentists get paid by insurance companies and other healthcare organizations. Right now, some contracts between dental insurance plans and dentists require those dentists to accept payment only through "virtual credit cards" — a digital payment method where a one-time credit card number is generated for each transaction. The problem with virtual credit cards is that dentists typically have to pay a processing fee (usually 2-3%) every time they receive a payment this way, which cuts into what they actually receive.

This bill would make it illegal for dental insurance plans or other healthcare entities to force dentists to accept virtual credit cards as their only payment option. In other words, dentists would have the right to receive payment through other methods — such as direct bank transfers or paper checks — rather than being locked into a payment method that comes with extra fees.

The people most directly affected are dentists and dental practices in Rhode Island, particularly smaller practices where those processing fees can add up to a significant amount of money. Indirectly, it could also affect patients, since the costs dentists absorb from these fees may influence the overall cost of running a dental practice. The bill has been introduced and sent to the House Corporations Committee for review, but has not yet been voted on.