Bill Text: NJ A1941 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires physicians to complete survey as condition for biennial registration with Board of Medical Examiners and requires board to maintain and disseminate survey data as appropriate.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A1941 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A1941-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman HERB CONAWAY, JR.
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Requires physicians to complete survey as condition for biennial registration with Board of Medical Examiners and requires board to maintain and disseminate survey data as appropriate.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act providing for a survey of physicians practicing in this State and supplementing Title 45 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The State Board of Medical Examiners shall require each physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery in this State, as a condition for biennial registration pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1971, c.236 (C.45:9-6.1), to complete an online survey on the Internet website of the board. The board shall not condition a physician's biennial registration on the response that the physician provides to any question included in the survey.
b. The survey shall be designed by the board, or an entity designated by the board, and shall include questions relating to the physician's professional practice, including, but not limited to, questions about:
(1) the physician's current work status;
(2) the physician's patient practice time spent in this State;
(3) the location of the physician's practice settings;
(4) the number of physicians working in those practice settings;
(5) the number of office staff employed by the physician;
(6) the primary sources of payment by the physician's patients;
(7) the number of hospitals at which the physician has admitting privileges;
(8) the cost incurred by the physician for medical malpractice liability insurance coverage;
(9) the practice specialty and subspecialty in which the physician spends most of his professional time;
(10) the percent of direct patient care time spent in the physician's principal specialty;
(11) whether the physician plans to retire, significantly reduce patient care hours, stop providing certain diagnostic or clinical services, or move his practice location within the State or to another state within the next 12 months;
(12) whether the physician can accept additional patients in his practice;
(13) whether the physician uses the Internet or e-mail for any aspects of his practice, and if so which;
(14) whether the physician, if he practices or has practiced maternity care, is currently delivering babies or plans to stop doing so within the next 12 months, or, if the physician has stopped delivering babies, when he stopped doing so; and
(15) whether the physician, in the case of all other primary care and specialty physicians, has stopped providing specific clinical or diagnostic services over the past 24 months, and the factors influencing those decisions.
c. The board, or an entity designated by the board, which may, but need not be, the entity designated to design the survey pursuant to subsection b. of this section, shall compile the results of the surveys completed pursuant to subsection a. of this section, which shall contain no information that could be used to identify any physician completing the survey.
d. The board shall maintain a record of the survey data and shall make the data available to:
(1) other State entities or programs as they may require or deem appropriate for the performance of their duties pursuant to State or federal law or regulations, or as may be required for any State entity or program to obtain such federal funds as may be made available to the State for purposes that relate to the information contained in the survey results; and
(2) medical professional societies, medical schools, and other organizations representing health care providers or involved with physician work force planning, in this State, upon their written request and at no charge to these entities, in a manner to be determined by the board.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to biennial registrations with the State Board of Medical Examiners occurring after July 1, 2012.
STATEMENT
This bill requires physicians to complete a survey provided through the State Board of Medical Examiners (BME), as a condition of retaining their license to practice in New Jersey. The BME is not to condition a physician's biennial registration on the physician's response to any question in the survey.
The provisions of the bill reflect the recommendations of a report recently issued by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals on its study of the physician workforce in this State.
The bill provides specifically as follows:
· The BME is to require each physician licensed to practice in this State, as a condition for biennial registration with the BME, to complete an online survey on the BME Internet website.
· The survey is to be designed by the BME, or an entity designated by it, and will include questions relating to the physician's professional practice, including, but not limited to, questions about:
-- the physician's current work status;
-- the physician's patient practice time spent in this State;
-- the location of the physician's practice settings;
-- the number of physicians working in those practice settings;
-- the number of office staff employed by the physician;
-- the primary sources of payment by the physician's patients;
-- the number of hospitals at which the physician has admitting privileges;
-- the cost incurred by the physician for medical malpractice liability insurance coverage;
-- the practice specialty and subspecialty in which the physician spends most of his professional time;
-- the percent of direct patient care time spent in the physician's principal specialty;
-- whether the physician plans to retire, significantly reduce patient care hours, stop providing certain diagnostic or clinical services, or move his practice location within the State or to another state within the next 12 months;
-- whether the physician can accept additional patients in his practice;
-- whether the physician uses the Internet or e-mail for any aspects of his practice, and if so which;
-- whether the physician, if he practices or has practiced maternity care, is currently delivering babies or plans to stop doing so within the next 12 months, or, if the physician has stopped delivering babies, when he stopped doing so; and
-- whether the physician, in the case of all other primary care and specialty physicians, has stopped providing specific clinical or diagnostic services over the past 24 months, and the factors influencing those decisions.
· The BME, or an entity designated by it, which may, but need not be, the entity designated to design the survey, is to compile the results of the completed surveys, which are to contain no information that could be used to identify any physician completing the survey.
· The BME is to maintain a record of the survey data received pursuant to the bill, and is to make the data available to:
-- other State entities or programs as they may require or deem appropriate for the performance of their duties pursuant to State or federal law or regulations, or as may be required for any State entity or program to obtain such federal funds as may be made available to the State for purposes that relate to the information contained in the survey results; and
-- medical professional societies, medical schools, and other organizations representing health care providers or involved with physician work force planning, in this State, upon their written request and at no charge to these entities, in a manner to be determined by the BME.
· The bill applies to biennial registrations with the BME occurring after July 1, 2012.
