Bill Text: CA SB1471 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Health professions development: loan repayment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Assembly without further action. [SB1471 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB1471-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1471 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 21, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hernandez
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Sections 1341.45, 128551, and 128552 of,
and to add Section 128555.5 to, of the Health
and Safety Code, relating to health professions development.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1471, as amended, Hernandez. Health professions development:
loan repayment.
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, including repayment of educational loans, to a
physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area,
as defined. defined, and who is
trained in, and practices, in certain practice settings or primary
specialities, as defined. Existing law authorizes the selection
committee to fill up to 20% of the available positions with program
applicants from specialities outside of the primary
specialties, including psychiatry. Existing law establishes the
Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, a continuously
appropriated account, within the Health Professions Education Fund
that is managed by the Health Professions Education Foundation and
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, to primarily
provide funding for the ongoing operations of the Steven M. Thompson
Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975,
provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service
plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and imposes certain
requirements on health care service plans. Existing law imposes
various fines and administrative penalties on health care service
plans for certain violations of the act, which are deposited into the
Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund. Existing law
requires the first $1,000,000 in the fund to be transferred each year
to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians and to be used,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the Steven M.
Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. Existing law
requires all remaining funds to be transferred each year to the Major
Risk Medical Insurance Fund and to be used, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, for purposes of the Major Risk Medical Insurance
Program.
This bill would expand the eligibility for loan repayment funds
under the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program
to include those physicians providing psychiatric services. The bill
would provide that continuously appropriated funds deposited into the
Medically Underserved Account for Physicians shall not be made
available under the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment
Program to fund the repayment of loans for those physicians
providing psychiatric services or those physicians whose primary
specialty is psychiatry, as specified.
The bill would instead require, after the first $1,000,000 is
transferred from the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties
Fund to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, $1,000,000
to be transferred each year to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund
to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the Major Risk
Medical Insurance Program. The bill would require any amount
remaining over the amounts transferred to the Medically Underserved
Account for Physicians and the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund to
be transferred each year to the Medically Underserved Account for
Physicians to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the
Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, and
provide that one-half of these moneys are to be used
may be prioritized to fund the repayment of
loans for those physicians providing psychiatric services or
those physicians whose primary specialty is psychiatry
program applicants who are trained in, and practice, psychiatry,
under the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment
Program.
The bill would also delete a reference to an obsolete program and
make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1341.45 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
1341.45. (a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury the
Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund.
(b) The fines and administrative penalties collected pursuant to
this chapter, on and after September 30, 2008, shall be deposited
into the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund.
(c) The fines and administrative penalties deposited into the
Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund shall be
transferred by the department, annually, as follows:
(1) The first one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall be
transferred to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians
within the Health Professions Education Fund and shall, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, be used for the purposes of the
Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, as
specified in Article 5 (commencing with Section 128550) of Chapter 5
of Part 3 of Division 107 and, notwithstanding Section 128555, shall
not be used to provide funding for the Physician Volunteer Program.
(2) Until January 1, 2017, any amount over the first one million
dollars ($1,000,000), including accrued interest, in the fund shall
be transferred to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund continued
pursuant to Section 15893 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and
shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be used for the Major
Risk Medical Insurance Program for the purposes specified in Section
15894 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(3) On and after January 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, the
second one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall be transferred to the
Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund continued pursuant to Section 15893
of the Welfare and Institutions Code and shall, upon appropriation
by the Legislature, be used for the Major Risk Medical Insurance
Program for the purposes specified in Section 15894 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code.
(4) (A) On and after January 1, 2017 any amount over the first two
million dollars ($2,000,000), including accrued interest, in the
fund shall be transferred to the Medically Underserved Account for
Physicians within the Health Professions Education Fund and shall,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, and subject to subparagraph
(B), be used for the purposes of the Steven M. Thompson Physician
Corps Loan Repayment Program, as specified in Article 5 (commencing
with Section 128550) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 107 and,
notwithstanding Section 128555, shall not be used to provide funding
for the Physician Volunteer Program.
(B) One-half Up to one-half of the
moneys deposited into the Medically Underserved Account for
Physicians within the Health Professions Education Fund under this
paragraph shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be
used may be prioritized to fund the repayment of
loans loans pursuant to paragraph
(2) of subdivision (d) of Section 128553 for those
physicians providing psychiatric services or those physicians whose
primary specialty is psychiatry program applicants who
are trained in, and practice, psychiatry, under the Steven M.
Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, as
specified in Article Program (Article 5
(commencing with Section 128550) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division
107. 107).
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 1356 and Section
1356.1, the fines and administrative penalties authorized pursuant to
this chapter shall not be used to reduce the assessments imposed on
health care service plans pursuant to Section 1356.
SEC. 2. Section 128551 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
128551. (a) It is the intent of this article that the Health
Professions Education Foundation and the office provide the ongoing
program management of the two programs identified in subdivision (b)
of Section 128550 as a part of the California Physician Corps
Program.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), the foundation shall consult
with the Medical Board of California, Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development, and shall establish and consult with an
advisory committee of not more than seven members, that shall include
two members recommended by the California Medical Association and
may include other members of the medical community, including ethnic
representatives, medical schools, health advocates representing
ethnic communities, primary care clinics, public hospitals, and
health systems, statewide agencies administering state and federally
funded programs targeting underserved communities, and members of the
public with expertise in health care issues.
SEC. 3. 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 (commencing with Section 5.1)
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
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 or psychiatric services
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, psychiatry, 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. 4. Section 128555.5 is added to the Health
and Safety Code, to read:
128555.5. Notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 128555,
funds deposited into the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians
shall not be made available to fund the repayment of loans under the
Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program for those
physicians providing psychiatric services or those physicians whose
primary specialty is psychiatry, except as provided in subparagraph
(B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 1341.45.
