(a) The board shall establish criteria for the acceptance, denial, or termination of licentiates in a diversion program. Unless ordered by the board as a condition of licentiate disciplinary probation, only those licentiates who have voluntarily requested diversion treatment and supervision by a committee shall participate in a diversion program.

(b) A licentiate who is not the subject of a current investigation may self-refer to the diversion program on a confidential basis, except as provided in subdivision (f).

(c) A licentiate under current investigation by the board may also request entry into the diversion program by contacting the board’s Diversion Program Manager. The Diversion Program Manager may refer the licentiate requesting participation in the program to a diversion evaluation committee for evaluation of eligibility. Prior to authorizing a licentiate to enter into the diversion program, the Diversion Program Manager may require the licentiate, while under current investigation for any violations of the Dental Practice Act or other violations, to execute a statement of understanding that states that the licentiate understands that his or her violations of the Dental Practice Act or other statutes that would otherwise be the basis for discipline, may still be investigated and the subject of disciplinary action.

(d) If the reasons for a current investigation of a licentiate are based primarily on the self-administration of any controlled substance or dangerous drugs or alcohol under Section 1681, or the illegal possession, prescription, or nonviolent procurement of any controlled substance or dangerous drugs for self-administration that does not involve actual, direct harm to the public, the board shall close the investigation without further action if the licentiate is accepted into the board’s diversion program and successfully completes the requirements of the program. If the licentiate withdraws or is terminated from the program by a diversion evaluation committee, and the termination is approved by the program manager, the investigation shall be reopened and disciplinary action imposed, if warranted, as determined by the board.

(e) Neither acceptance nor participation in the diversion program shall preclude the board from investigating or continuing to investigate, or taking disciplinary action or continuing to take disciplinary action against, any licentiate for any unprofessional conduct committed before, during, or after participation in the diversion program.

(f) If a licentiate withdraws or is terminated from the diversion program for failure to comply or is determined to be a threat to the public or his or her own health and safety, all diversion records for that licentiate shall be provided to the board’s enforcement program and may be used in any disciplinary proceeding. If a licentiate in a diversion program tests positive for any banned substance, the board’s diversion program manager shall immediately notify the board’s enforcement program and provide the documentation evidencing the positive test result to the enforcement program. This documentation may be used in a disciplinary proceeding.

(g) Any licentiate terminated from the diversion program for failure to comply with program requirements is subject to disciplinary action by the board for acts committed before, during, and after participation in the diversion program. A licentiate who has been under investigation by the board and has been terminated from the diversion program by a diversion evaluation committee shall be reported by the diversion evaluation committee to the board.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 385, Sec. 11. (SB 540) Effective January 1, 2012.)