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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6979
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4665
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH'S
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING PHYSICIAN RECRUITMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 19a-88 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2025): 3
(b) Each person holding a license to practice medicine, surgery, 4
podiatry, chiropractic or naturopathy shall, annually, during the month 5
of such person's birth, register with the Department of Public Health, 6
upon payment of the professional services fee for class I, as defined in 7
section 33-182l, plus five dollars. Each person holding a license to 8
practice medicine or surgery shall pay five dollars in addition to such 9
professional services fee. Such registration shall be on blanks to be 10
furnished by the department for such purpose, giving such person's 11
name in full, such person's residence and business address and such 12
other information as the department requests. On and after January 1, 13
2026, each person holding a license to practice medicine who has retired 14
from the profession may renew such license. The fee for such license 15
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renewal shall be ten per cent of the professional services fee for class I, 16
as determined in accordance with section 33-182l, or ninety-five dollars, 17
whichever is greater. Any such license provided by the department at a 18
reduced fee pursuant to this subsection shall indicate that the 19
practitioner is retired. 20
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) For the purposes of subsection 21
(b) of section 19a-88 of the general statutes, the Commissioner of Public 22
Health shall, not later than January 1, 2026, adopt regulations, in 23
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes. 24
Such regulations shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) a definition 25
of "retired from the profession" as that term applies to physicians, (2) 26
procedures for licensed physicians, who have retired from the 27
profession, to return to active employment, and (3) appropriate 28
restrictions upon the scope of practice for such physicians who are 29
retired from the profession, including restricting the license of such 30
physicians to the provision of volunteer services without monetary 31
compensation. 32
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) Any person licensed pursuant 33
to section 20-13 of the general statutes, who is retired from the 34
profession and whose license has become void pursuant to section 19a-35
88 of the general statutes, may apply for reinstatement of such license 36
pursuant to the provisions of 19a-14 of the general statutes. The 37
Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations, in accordance 38
with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to implement 39
the provisions of this section. Such regulations shall include, but need 40
not be limited to, (1) a definition of "retired from the profession" as that 41
term applies to physicians, and (2) (A) eligibility requirements 42
consistent with the provisions of subdivision (6) of subsection (a) of 43
section 19a-14 of the general statutes, and (B) application procedures 44
relating to license reinstatement. The commissioner may impose any 45
conditions or restrictions upon the scope of a practice of a physician 46
whose license is reinstated pursuant to the provisions of this 47
subdivision, including, but not limited to, conditions or restrictions 48
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relating to the provision of volunteer services without monetary 49
compensation. 50
Sec. 4. Subsections (a) to (c), inclusive, of section 20-11b of the general 51
statutes are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 52
(Effective October 1, 2025): 53
(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, each person 54
licensed to practice medicine and surgery under the provisions of 55
section 20-13 who provides direct patient care services shall maintain 56
professional liability insurance or other indemnity against liability for 57
professional malpractice. The amount of insurance which each such 58
person shall carry as insurance or indemnity against claims for injury or 59
death for professional malpractice shall not be less than five hundred 60
thousand dollars for one person, per occurrence, with an aggregate of 61
not less than one million five hundred thousand dollars. 62
(b) Each insurance company which issues professional liability 63
insurance, as defined in subdivisions (1), (6), (7), (8) and (9) of subsection 64
(b) of section 38a-393, shall on and after January 1, 1995, render to the 65
Commissioner of Public Health a true record of the names and 66
addresses, according to classification, of cancellations of and refusals to 67
renew professional liability insurance policies and the reasons for such 68
cancellation or refusal to renew said policies for the year ending on the 69
thirty-first day of December next preceding. 70
(c) A person subject to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section 71
shall be deemed in compliance with such subsection when providing 72
primary health care or behavioral health care services at a clinic licensed 73
by the Department of Public Health that is recognized as tax exempt 74
pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or 75
any successor internal revenue code, as may be amended from time to 76
time, provided: (1) Such person is not compensated for such services; (2) 77
the clinic does not charge patients for such services; (3) the clinic 78
maintains professional liability insurance coverage in the amounts 79
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required by subsection (a) of this section for each aggregated forty hours 80
of service or fraction thereof for such persons; (4) the clinic carries 81
additional appropriate professional liability coverage on behalf of the 82
clinic and its employees in the amounts of five hundred thousand 83
dollars per occurrence, with an aggregate of not less than one million 84
five hundred thousand dollars; and (5) the clinic maintains total 85
professional liability coverage of not less than one million dollars per 86
occurrence with an annual aggregate of not less than three million 87
dollars. Such person shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (a) 88
of this section when providing direct patient care services in any setting 89
other than such clinic. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 90
relieve the clinic from any insurance requirements otherwise required 91
by law. 92
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The Commissioner of Public 93
Health shall establish, within available appropriations, a student loan 94
repayment program for health care providers who provide primary care 95
and behavioral health services in the state. For the purposes of this 96
section, "primary care" means the medical fields of family medicine, 97
general pediatrics, primary care, internal medicine, primary care 98
obstetrics or primary care gynecology, without regard to board 99
certification. The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance 100
with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to implement 101
the provisions of this section, including, but not limited to, establishing 102
eligibility criteria and obligations of program participants. 103
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 19a-88(b)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2025 New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2025 New section
Sec. 4 October 1, 2025 20-11b(a) to (c)
Sec. 5 from passage New section
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Statement of Purpose:
To (1) allow retired physicians to provide free primary and behavioral
health care at nonprofit clinics, and (2) require the Commissioner of
Public Health to establish a student loan repayment program for health
care providers who provide primary care and behavioral health services
in the state.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]