Bill Text: CA AB565 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: California Physician Corps Program.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2013-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 378, Statutes of 2013. [AB565 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB565-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 565 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 378
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chesbro, Logue, and Pan)
(Coauthor: Senator Anderson)
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to amend Sections 128552 and 128553 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to physicians and surgeons.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 565, Salas. California Physician Corps Program.
Existing law establishes the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps
Loan Repayment Program in the California Physician Corps Program
within the Health Professions Education Foundation, which provides
financial incentives, as specified, to a physician and surgeon for
practicing in a medically underserved community. Existing law
authorizes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to
adopt guidelines by regulation and requires the foundation to use
guidelines for selection and placement of program applicants. These
guidelines provide priority consideration to applicants who meet
specified criteria, including that the applicant has 3 years of
experience working in medically underserved areas or with medically
underserved populations. The guidelines also must seek to place the
most qualified applicants in the areas with the greatest need.
This bill would delete the requirement that the guidelines seek to
place the most qualified applicants in the areas of greatest need.
The bill would require the guidelines for the selection and placement
of program applicants to include criteria that would give priority
consideration to program applicants who have 3 years of experience
providing health care services to medically underserved populations
or in a medically underserved area, as defined. The bill would
require the guidelines to give priority to applicants who agree to
practice in those areas and serve a medically underserved population,
and would require the guidelines to give priority consideration to
applicants from rural communities who agree to practice in a
physician owned and operated medical practice setting, as defined.
Existing law requires the foundation, in consultation with the
Medical Board of California, Office of Statewide Planning and
Development, and an advisory committee, to use guidelines developed
by the Medical Board of California for selection and placement of
applicants until the office adopts other guidelines by regulation.
This bill would instead require the foundation and the office 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 and 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 and that is located in a medically underserved area and
has at least 50% of its patients from that population. Existing law
also defines "practice setting," for these purposes, to include a
medical practice located in a medically underserved area and at least
50% of whose patients are from a medically underserved population.
This bill would delete the latter definition and instead 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, within
this definition of "practice setting."
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.
(c) "Fund" means the Health Professions Education Fund.
(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 at least 50 percent of whose patients
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 percent of patients 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.
SEC. 2. Section 128553 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
128553. (a) Program applicants shall possess a current valid
license to practice medicine in this state issued pursuant to Section
2050 of the Business and Professions Code or pursuant to the
Osteopathic Act.
(b) The foundation and the office shall develop guidelines using
the criteria specified in subdivision (c) for selection and placement
of applicants. The foundation shall interpret the guidelines to
apply to both osteopathic and allopathic physicians and surgeons.
(c) The guidelines shall meet all of the following criteria:
(1) Provide priority consideration to applicants that are best
suited to meet the cultural and linguistic needs and demands of
patients from medically underserved populations and who meet one or
more of the following criteria:
(A) Speak a Medi-Cal threshold language.
(B) Come from an economically disadvantaged background.
(C) Have received significant training in cultural and
linguistically appropriate service delivery.
(D) Have three years of experience providing health care services
to medically underserved populations or in a medically underserved
area, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 128552.
(E) Have recently obtained a license to practice medicine.
(2) Include a process for determining the needs for physician
services identified by the practice setting and for ensuring that the
practice setting meets the definition specified in subdivision (h)
of Section 128552.
(3) Give preference to applicants who have completed a three-year
residency in a primary specialty.
(4) Give preference to applicants who agree to practice in a
medically underserved area, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section
128552, and who agree to serve a medically underserved population.
(5) Give priority consideration to applicants from rural
communities who agree to practice in a physician owned and operated
medical practice setting as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(i) of Section 128552.
(6) Include a factor ensuring geographic distribution of
placements.
(7) Provide priority consideration to applicants who agree to
practice in a geriatric care setting and are trained in geriatrics,
and who can meet the cultural and linguistic needs and demands of a
diverse population of older Californians. On and after January 1,
2009, up to 15 percent of the funds collected pursuant to Section
2436.5 of the Business and Professions Code shall be dedicated to
loan assistance for physicians and surgeons who agree to practice in
geriatric care settings or settings that primarily serve adults over
the age of 65 years or adults with disabilities.
(d) (1) The foundation may appoint a selection committee that
provides policy direction and guidance over the program and that
complies with the requirements of subdivision (l) of Section 128552.
(2) The selection committee may fill up to 20 percent of the
available positions with program applicants from specialties outside
of the primary care specialties.
(e) Program participants shall meet all of the following
requirements:
(1) Shall be working in or have a signed agreement with an
eligible practice setting.
(2) Shall have full-time status at the practice setting. Full-time
status shall be defined by the board and the selection committee may
establish exemptions from this requirement on a case-by-case basis.
(3) Shall commit to a minimum of three years of service in a
medically underserved area. Leaves of absence shall be permitted for
serious illness, pregnancy, or other natural causes. The selection
committee shall develop the process for determining the maximum
permissible length of an absence and the process for reinstatement.
Loan repayment shall be deferred until the physician is back to
full-time status.
(f) The office shall adopt a process that applies if a physician
is unable to complete his or her three-year obligation.
(g) The foundation, in consultation with those identified in
subdivision (b) of Section 128551, shall develop a process for
outreach to potentially eligible applicants.
(h) The foundation may recommend to the office any other standards
of eligibility, placement, and termination appropriate to achieve
the aim of providing competent health care services in approved
practice settings.
