Bill Text: CA AB148 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 148 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: California Physician Corps Program: practice setting.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB148 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB148-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 148

Introduced by Assembly Member Mathis

January 10, 2017

An act to amend Section 128552 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to physicians and surgeons, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 148, as introduced, Mathis. California Physician Corps Program: practice setting.

Existing law establishes the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program (program) in the California Physician Corps Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation, which provides financial incentives, including repayment of educational loans, to a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area, as defined. Existing law establishes the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, a continuously appropriated account, within the Health Professions Education Fund, to primarily provide funding for the ongoing operations of the program. Existing law requires the foundation and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to develop guidelines using specified criteria for selection and placement of applicants.

Existing law defines “practice setting,” for these purposes, to include a community clinic, as defined, a clinic owned or operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with a county government to fulfill the county’s role to serve its indigent population, that is located in a medically underserved area and at least 50% of whose patients are from a medically underserved population. Existing law also defines “practice setting,” for these purposes, to include a physician owned and operated medical practice setting that provides primary care located in a medically underserved area and has a minimum of 50% of patients who are uninsured, Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or beneficiaries of another publicly funded program that serves patients who earn less than 250% of the federal poverty level.

This bill would instead require, for purposes of this definition, that the clinic or the physician owned and operated medical practice setting have at least 30% of patients, if the area is rural, or at least 50% of patients, if the area is urban, who are from the above-described populations. By expanding the authorization for the use of moneys in the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, this bill would make an appropriation.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 128552 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

128552.

For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Account” means the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians established within the Health Professions Education Fund pursuant to this article.

(b) “Foundation” means the Health Professions Education Foundation.

(d) “Medi-Cal threshold languages” means primary languages spoken by limited-English-proficient (LEP) population groups meeting a numeric threshold of 3,000, eligible LEP Medi-Cal beneficiaries residing in a county, 1,000 Medi-Cal eligible LEP beneficiaries residing in a single ZIP Code, or 1,500 LEP Medi-Cal beneficiaries residing in two contiguous ZIP Codes.

(e) “Medically underserved area” means an area defined as a health professional shortage area in Part 5 of Subchapter A of Chapter 1 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations or an area of the state where unmet priority needs for physicians exist as determined by the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission pursuant to Section 128225.

(f) “Medically underserved population” means the Medi-Cal program, Healthy Families Program, and uninsured populations.

(g) “Office” means the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).

(h) “Physician Volunteer Program” means the Physician Volunteer Registry Program established by the Medical Board of California.

(i) “Practice setting,” for the purposes of this article only, means either of the following:

(1) A community clinic as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1204 and subdivision (c) of Section 1206, a clinic owned or operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with a county government to fulfill the county’s role pursuant to Section 17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which is located in a medically underserved area and has at least ~~50 percent of whose patients~~ 30 percent of patients, if the area is rural, or at least 50 percent of patients, if the area is urban, who are from a medically underserved population.

(2) A physician owned and operated medical practice setting that provides primary care located in a medically underserved area and has ~~a minimum of 50~~ at least 30 percent of ~~patients~~ patients, if the area is rural, or at least 50 percent of patients, if the area is urban, who are uninsured, Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or beneficiaries of another publicly funded program that serves patients who earn less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

(j) “Primary specialty” means family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics/gynecology.

(k) “Program” means the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.

(l) “Selection committee” means a minimum three-member committee of the board, that includes a member that was appointed by the Medical Board of California.