Bylaws

lllinois Dental Policy Review Committee Bylaws

The Illinois Dental Policy Review Committee (DPRC) is created pursuant to Public Act 86-1475 in order to provide professional or technical consultation to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) about oral health and dental care services under the Medical Assistance Program. The DPRC shall consult with and advise HFS in respect to problems and policies involved in the provision of dental services to adults and children.

The DPRC will:
      A.    Serve in an advisory role to the HFS.
      B.    Will make dental service recommendations on policy development and program administration to the HFS.
      C.   Apply their individual expertise of current dental practice during discussions and while providing recommendations to the HFS.
      D.   Will meet quarterly for the purpose of providing dental service recommendations to the HFS.
      E.    Will comply with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act.
      F.    Each member will have the responsibility to recuse themselves from discussion and vote on a topic that is or may be construed as a conflict of interest to the discussion topic.

The DPRC shall consist of up to fifteen (15) voting members that shall include:
        A.    Twelve (12) dentists and/or dental hygienists representative of the variety of practice settings, including but not limited to those involved in FQHCs, local health department oral        health programs, pediatric dentistry, geriatric dentistry, dental academia, orthodontia, oral surgery, general practice and an All Kids school-based dental provider that HFS appoints.
        B    Three (3) members with standing appointments which shall include:
               a.   The current contractor's Dental Director for Illinois,
               b.   The Illinois Department of Public Health's Division of Oral Health's Dental Director; and
               c.   One representative from the Illinois State Dental Society.
        C.   All appointments of members shall be made in writing by HFS.

Vacancies will be filled by written nominations to HFS.

Members shall serve a three-year term, or until a successor is appointed by HFS without compensation and shall not be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. All members may be reappointed by HFS providing the member is willing to serve an additional term. Members will be notified in writing of their status prior to the end of the term.

If a member misses three (3) consecutive regularly scheduled meetings, his/her membership may be terminated at the discretion of HFS.

The officers of the DPRC consist of a Chair and a Vice Chair and will be elected by a majority vote of Committee members for a three-year term.

The Chair shall have the authority to establish a meeting schedule and convene meetings of the Committee and to preside over meetings in a manner consistent with Robert’s Rules of Order unless otherwise directed by these Bylaws. Should a member fail to answer the roll call for four consecutive meetings, the Chair may request permission to replace the member from HFS

The Vice-Chair shall have the authority to convene meetings in the absence of the Chair. 

The DPRC will hold regular meetings up to four times per year, or as often as the Chair and HFS deem necessary. Special meetings shall be called by the Chair, HFS or upon written request to the Chair by members of the DPPC. Meetings will be held unless suspended by HFS and/or the DPRC Chair. HFS will post notices of the location, date and time of meetings and special meetings on the DPRC website. It shall be the responsibility of HFS to give notices of the location, date and time of the regular meetings to each member of the DPRC at least thirty (30) days prior to each of the meeting dates.

An agenda of business scheduled for deliberation shall be prepared and distributed to the members of the DPRC at least 48 hours prior to a scheduled meeting of the DPRC and no less than 24 hours prior to a special meeting. DPRC members must submit agenda items to be discussed and HFS will be responsible for the development and distribution of the agenda. The agenda must include review and approval, by simple majority, of previous minutes, and an opportunity for public comment. HFS will publish the agenda at least 48 hours prior to a regular meeting on the DPRC website. Under the new business portion of regular DPRC meeting, any member may bring up an item for discussion that is not on the agenda posted prior to the meeting; however, no action may be taken by the DPRC on such items until a future meeting has been properly noticed and such items are on the agenda for the meeting during which the DPRC takes action. No item may be discussed at a special meeting if such item is not on the published agenda.

51% of voting members must be present at the initial roll call at the commencement of any regular or special meeting to constitute a quorum. Members attending in person, by video teleconference, shall be considered present for purposes of establishing a quorum. Members may participate by telephone when the member's physical attendance is prevented due to i) personal illness or disability, ii) employment purposes or the business of the public body; or iii) a family or other emergency. Attendance by proxy is not permitted. If a quorum is not present at the scheduled time of the meeting, the Chair may continue a roll call for a reasonable time. Thereafter, if a quorum is not reached, the meeting may continue, provided no official action is taken. If a quorum is subsequently reached, official action may be taken at the time. 

All meetings of the DPRC shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order to the extent not inconsistent with these Bylaws. Motions shall be made and seconded by members before called for a vote. A motion shall not be made and seconded by the same member. Except as otherwise specified herein, the Chair will have the right to call for a vote by voice vote, standing vote, or by leave to adopt a previous roll call vote, in all cases unless there is an objection by one member, in which case a roll call vote shall be taken. The minutes shall reflect the results of each vote. Unless otherwise required by statute, all other votes will be by simple majority. Voting by proxy is not permitted in any case.

At each meeting, the Chair will provide an opportunity for comment from members of the public. Public comment may be limited, at the Chair's discretion, to three minutes for each individual, or five minutes for a representative spokesperson of a group. The Chair may act to prevent repetition or digression, to maintain decorum, to exclude discussion of matters which have had a previous public hearing, to exclude discussion of matters over which the DPRC has no input, and to exclude discussion of matters where public comment would interfere with due process of law. Guidelines for registration and public presentation as well as Conflict of Interest disclosures are found on the DPRC website.

HFS will provide staff and operational support to the DPRC as may be reasonably required to accomplish its functions. HFS staff will take minutes at all regular and special meetings of the DPRC.

All Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests will be directed to HFS.

In general, meeting materials that are not drafts and that do not contain business records or proprietary information will be available upon request from HFS.

The Bylaws may be amended at any meeting by a majority vote of the members present provided that the proposed amendment(s) have been provided to each member at least ten (10) days before said meeting. Bylaw amendments shall be effective on the date on which they are approved by the DPRC.