H.B. No. 3456
AN ACT
relating to the education and preparation of resident physicians.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.097, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.097. CONTRACTS WITH RESPECT TO RESIDENT
PHYSICIANS. (a) The board shall contract with [the] Baylor
College of Medicine for the administration, direction, and
performance of services necessary or proper to the education,
training, development, and preparation of resident physicians for a
career in medicine. [Included in those services shall be the
payment and furnishing by the medical school to the resident
physicians of all compensation that has previously been paid or
furnished by the hospital or hospitals in which the resident
physicians have been educated and trained.]
(b) [In Sections 61.097 and 61.098 of this code:
[(1) "Resident physician" means a person who is
appointed a resident physician by the Baylor College of Medicine
and who:
[(A) has received a Doctor of Medicine or a
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Baylor College of
Medicine or from one of the schools of medicine listed in Section
58.001 of this code; or
[(B) is a citizen of Texas and has received a
Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from
some other school of medicine that is accredited by the Liaison
Committee on Medical Education or by the Bureau of Professional
Education of the American Osteopathic Association.
[(2) "Primary teaching hospital" is a hospital at
which the Baylor College of Medicine educates and trains both
resident physicians and undergraduate medical students.
[(3) "Compensation" includes stipends; payments, if
any, for services rendered; and fringe benefits when applied to
payments to or for the benefit of resident physicians.
[(c) A person may not be considered a resident physician for
a period of time longer than is ordinarily and customarily required
for a resident physician to complete a medical specialty program
approved by the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education
for the specialty in which the resident physician seeks
certification as a diplomate and to obtain the certification from
the appropriate board or agency approved by the American Board of
Medical Specialties.
[(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (c) of
this section, a person may not be considered a resident physician
under this section for a period of time longer than four years.
[(e) The total number of the first-year resident physicians
compensated under this section and Chapter 58 of this code may not
exceed the combined total number of persons in the previous year's
graduating classes of the schools listed in Section 58.001 of this
code and the Baylor College of Medicine. The Baylor College of
Medicine shall give priority consideration to applicants who
demonstrate a willingness to practice in medically underserved
areas of Texas.
[(f) It is the intent of this section that eventually at
least 50 percent of the first-year resident physicians appointed by
medical schools shall be in the primary care areas of family
medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, and
obstetrics/gynecology, with 25 percent of those residents in family
practice.
[(g)] In the exercise of the authority under Subsection (a)
[of this section], the board shall disburse to [the] Baylor College
of Medicine the money [, out of funds] appropriated by the
legislature to the board for that purpose [, an amount not to exceed
$15,000 per fiscal year of disbursement for each resident physician
appointed by the school for that year]. The money disbursed to
Baylor College of Medicine under this section shall be spent by the
school exclusively for the education, training, development, and
preparation of resident physicians for a career in medicine [The
board shall establish, by contract with the Baylor College of
Medicine, the method by which the disbursement shall be
accomplished. The funds authorized by this section are separate
from and in addition to the funds authorized in Sections 61.092 and
61.093 of this code].
SECTION 2. Sections 61.098 and 61.099, Education Code, are
repealed.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a contract entered into or renewed under Section 61.097,
Education Code, on or after the effective date of this Act. A
contract entered into or renewed under that section before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the
contract was entered into or renewed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. 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, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3456 was passed by the House on April
15, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3456 was passed by the Senate on May
5, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor