Senate · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SB 323: Health, Insurance, and Professions and Businesses; medically necessary tests for metal allergies and metal sensitivities to be administered prior to any cardiovascular, dental, or orthopedic surgery involving the insertion of a metal implant; provide

Last action March 6, 2025 · Senate Read and Referred

A Georgia Senate bill would require doctors and dentists to test patients for metal allergies before implant surgeries, require insurance to cover those tests, and let patients sue providers who skip the screening.

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In plain language

Right now Georgia law does not require doctors or dentists to check for metal allergies before implanting metal devices such as artificial joints, dental implants, or cardiovascular devices. This bill would change that by directing the Department of Public Health, along with the Georgia Board of Dentistry and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, to compile guidance on which tests are medically necessary for metal allergies and sensitivities, and to post and distribute that guidance annually. The bill also requires health insurance policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 to cover medically necessary allergy testing before implant surgery, subject to normal deductibles and copays. Dental surgeons and surgeons would need one hour of continuing education on metal allergies starting January 1, 2025. Before any cardiovascular, dental, or orthopedic implant surgery, providers must ask patients about metal allergies and perform necessary tests; if they do not, a patient may sue the provider for damages.

What the bill does

Directs the Department of Public Health, with dental and medical boards, to compile and annually update guidance on medically necessary metal allergy tests before implant surgery.
Requires the guidance to be posted publicly online and distributed yearly to licensed dental surgeons and surgeons in Georgia.
Requires health insurance policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 to cover medically necessary metal allergy and sensitivity tests before implant surgery, subject to normal deductibles and copays.
Adds a one-hour continuing education requirement on metal allergies and sensitivities for dental surgeons and surgeons starting January 1, 2025.
Requires healthcare providers to ask patients about metal allergies and perform necessary tests before cardiovascular, dental, or orthopedic implant surgery.
Creates a private right for patients to sue a healthcare provider for damages if the provider fails to ask about or test for metal allergies before implant surgery.

Who it affects

Patients getting cardiovascular, dental, or orthopedic implant surgery; surgeons and dental surgeons licensed in Georgia; the Department of Public Health, the Georgia Board of Dentistry, and the Georgia Composite Medical Board; and health insurers and self-insured health plans operating in Georgia.

Why it matters

Patients could get allergy testing before implant surgery covered by insurance and would gain legal recourse if a provider skips the required allergy screening. Providers would face new pretest and continuing education duties, and insurers would need to add coverage for these tests starting July 2025.

Key provisions

Section 1 adds O.C.G.A. § 31-1-26, requiring the Department of Public Health to compile, annually update, and publicly post guidance on medically necessary metal allergy tests before implant surgery.
Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 33-24-59.34, requiring health benefit policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 to cover medically necessary metal allergy testing, subject to normal cost-sharing, and defines 'metal implant' to exclude injections, surgical tools, and dental fillings.
Section 2 also states that if a patient reports a metal allergy or sensitivity, a lymphocyte transformation test or other advanced test counts as medically necessary.
Section 3 adds a one-hour continuing education requirement on metal allergies for dental surgeons, effective January 1, 2025.
Section 4 adds a similar one-hour continuing education requirement for all surgeons, effective January 1, 2025.
Section 5 adds O.C.G.A. § 43-34-16, requiring healthcare providers to ask patients about metal allergies and perform necessary tests before implant surgery, and creates a private cause of action for patients if providers fail to do so.
Section 6 repeals conflicting laws.

From the bill

“Prior to performing any cardiovascular, dental, or orthopedic surgery involving the insertion of a metal implant into a human body, a healthcare provider shall: (1) Ask a patient if he or she has any metal allergy or metal sensitivity; and (2) Perform any medically necessary tests for metal allergies and metal sensitivities.”
This is the bill's core pretest requirement for surgeons and other healthcare providers.

“A patient aggrieved by a healthcare provider's failure to satisfy the requirements provided for in subsection (b) of this Code section may bring a private cause of action against such provider for damages”
This creates a legal right for patients to sue providers who skip the required allergy screening.

“if a patient informs a healthcare provider that he or she has a metal allergy or metal sensitivity, a lymphocyte transformation test or other more advanced test shall be considered medically necessary”
This defines when a specific advanced allergy test must be treated as medically necessary and covered.

Status timeline

2025-03-06Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2025-03-04Senate Hopper (Senate)

Topics

metal allergy testing
health insurance coverage
surgical implants
medical licensing
patient rights

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