Bill Text: TX HB3692 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to the support of certain resident physicians and physician residency programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-17 - Left pending in committee [HB3692 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB3692-Introduced.html

---

83R1962 KEL-F
By: Branch H.B. No. 3692

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the support of certain resident physicians and
physician residency programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 58.007, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), (e), and (g) and adding Subsection
(b-1) to read as follows:
(a) Nothing in this section or Section 58.006 or 58.008
shall diminish or abolish the activities of the Family Practice
Residency Advisory Committee established under Section 61.505. It
is not the intent of this section to combine or assimilate advisory
programs but only to add to and enhance the residency training of
[primary care] physicians in Texas.
(b)[(1)] The Graduate Medical Education [Primary Care]
Residency Expansion Grant Program Advisory Committee is created and
shall consist of 13 [12] members as follows:
(1) eight [(A) seven] members shall be licensed
physicians, one appointed by each of the following:
(A) [(i)] the Texas Medical Association;
(B) [(ii)] the Texas Osteopathic Medical
Association;
(C) [(iii)] the Texas Academy of Family
Physicians;
(D) [(iv)] the Texas Society of the American
College of Osteopathic Family Physicians;
(E) [(v)] the Texas Society of Internal Medicine;
(F) [(vi)] the Texas Pediatric Society; [and]
(G) [(vii)] the Texas Association of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and
(H) the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians;
(2) [(B)] one member shall be appointed by the Office
[Texas Department] of Rural Affairs in the Department of
Agriculture;
(3) [(C)] one member shall be appointed by [the Bureau
of Community Oriented Primary Care at] the Department of State
Health Services; and
(4) [(D)] three members shall be members of the
public, one appointed by each of the following:
(A) [(i)] the governor;
(B) [(ii)] the lieutenant governor; and
(C) [(iii)] the speaker of the house of
representatives.
(b-1) [(2)] No individual who has a direct financial
interest in [primary care] residency training programs shall be
appointed to serve as a member of the advisory committee.
(e) The committee shall meet at least annually, and so often
as requested by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or
called into meeting by the committee chair.
(g) The committee shall review for the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board applications for approval and funding
of the expansion of existing [primary care] residency programs or
the establishment of new Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education or American Osteopathic Association nationally
accredited residency programs [training program expansion] as
described in Section 58.008 [and related support programs], make
recommendations to the board relating to program funding [the
standards and criteria for approval of residency training and
related support programs], and perform such other duties as may be
directed by the board.
SECTION 2. Section 58.008, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 58.008. GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION [PRIMARY CARE]
RESIDENCY EXPANSION GRANT PROGRAM [EXPANSION]. (a) Only
accredited residency programs that offer first-year entering
residency positions, including programs [positions] in family
practice, [general] internal medicine, [general] pediatrics, [and]
obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and surgery, shall be
eligible for [these] funds under this section.
(b) The advisory committee created under Section 58.007
shall recommend to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board an
allocation of new [primary care] residency positions by residency
program that are to receive state support in order to increase the
number of residents in training in this state.
(b-1) In [The committee shall take into consideration in]
recommending an allocation among residency programs [the four
primary care specialties] designated for expansion, the committee
shall consider the following factors:
(1) the current number [primary care specialties mix]
of Texas physicians in direct practice and the types of their
practices;
(2) [projections for the primary care specialties mix
of Texas physicians in direct practice;
[(3) the current state-supported primary care
positions;
[(4)] geographic need [shortages] for [primary care]
physicians;
(3) [(5)] federally designated and state-designated
[state designated] medically underserved areas, and counties that
are health professional shortage areas;
(4) [(6)] the demographics of the Texas population;
[and]
(5) [(7)] the infrastructure of existing residency
programs;
(6) the residency program's history of retention and
the program's success rate in placing physicians in communities in
this state following completion of residency training, with an
emphasis on the program's success rate in placing physicians in
underserved communities; and
(7) the amount of matching funds a residency program
receives or will receive from community collaborative groups.
(c) Once funds are awarded to support a residency program's
expansion efforts or the establishment of a new [resident position
of a particular] residency program, the board shall continue to
award grant funds to support that residency program to ensure the
successful expansion or establishment of the program [position for
all three or four postgraduate years of the residency training
curriculum until the resident physician appointed to that position
has completed or left the program. The position would then be
eligible for reallocation by the Primary Care Residency Advisory
Committee].
(d) A grant awarded under this section to an existing or new
residency program may be used to support the salaries of resident
physicians in an amount not to exceed $15,000 per resident
physician.
(e) The board shall adopt rules for the administration of
this section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.