82R2976 JRJ-D
By: Zerwas H.B. No. 2546
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas emergency and trauma care education
partnership program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter GG to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER GG. TEXAS EMERGENCY AND TRAUMA CARE EDUCATION
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
Sec. 61.9801. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Emergency and trauma care education partnership"
means a partnership that:
(A) consists of one or more hospitals in this
state that are not owned, maintained, or operated by the federal or
state government or an agency of the federal or state government and
one or more nursing or medical education programs in this state; and
(B) serves to increase enrollment and graduation
rates for doctors and registered nurses training in emergency and
trauma care at participating medical and nursing education
programs.
(2) "Participating education program" means an
undergraduate professional nursing program or graduate
professional nursing program as those terms are defined by Section
54.221 or a professional program leading to a degree required for
licensure as a doctor of medicine or osteopathy that participates
in an emergency and trauma care education partnership.
Sec. 61.9802. PROGRAM: ESTABLISHMENT; ADMINISTRATION;
PURPOSE. (a) The Texas emergency and trauma care education
partnership program is established.
(b) The board shall administer the program in accordance
with this subchapter and rules adopted under this subchapter.
(c) Under the program, to the extent funds are available
under Section 61.9805, the board shall make grants to emergency and
trauma care education partnerships to assist those partnerships to
meet the state's needs for doctors and registered nurses with
training in emergency and trauma care by offering two-year
residency fellowships to students enrolled in nursing or medical
education programs with a focus in the area of family medicine
through collaboration between hospitals and nursing or medical
education programs and the use of the existing expertise and
facilities of those hospitals and programs.
Sec. 61.9803. GRANTS: CONDITIONS; LIMITATIONS. (a) The
board may make a grant under this subchapter to an emergency and
trauma care education partnership only if the board determines
that:
(1) the partnership will meet applicable standards for
instruction and student competency for each degree granted by each
participating education program;
(2) each participating education program will, as a
result of the partnership, enroll in the education program a
sufficient number of additional students as established by the
board;
(3) the marginal cost to the state of producing a
graduate of a participating education program will be comparable,
as determined under criteria established by board rule, to the
marginal cost to the state of producing a comparable graduate of a
nursing or medical education program not participating in a
partnership;
(4) each hospital participating in an emergency and
trauma care education partnership will provide to students enrolled
in a participating education program clinical placements that:
(A) allow the students to take part in providing
or to observe, as appropriate, emergency and trauma care services
offered by the hospital; and
(B) meet the clinical education needs of the
students; and
(5) the partnership will satisfy any other requirement
established by board rule.
(b) In establishing the cost-comparison criteria under
Subsection (a)(3), the board shall exclude reasonable development
and initial implementation costs for the infrastructure necessary
to support an emergency and trauma care education partnership.
(c) A grant under this subchapter may be spent only on
costs related to the development or operation of an emergency and
trauma care education partnership that prepares a student to earn
an associate or bachelor of science degree in nursing and to achieve
initial licensure as a registered nurse or a professional degree
leading to licensure as a doctor of medicine or osteopathy.
(d) An emergency and trauma care education partnership
shall return to the board money granted to the partnership under
this subchapter that the partnership does not spend on eligible
costs under Subsection (c). As the board determines appropriate to
best achieve the purposes of these programs, the board may:
(1) use the money to make grants to other emergency and
trauma care education partnerships;
(2) use the money to make grants under the
professional nursing shortage reduction program established under
Subchapter Z; or
(3) transfer the money to the permanent fund for
higher education nursing, allied health, and other health-related
programs established under Subchapter C, Chapter 63, for use in
making grants under that subchapter.
Sec. 61.9804. PRIORITY FOR FUNDING. In awarding a grant
under this subchapter, the board shall give priority to an
emergency and trauma care education partnership that submits a
proposal that:
(1) provides for collaborative educational models
between one or more participating hospitals and one or more
participating education programs that have signed a memorandum of
understanding or other written agreement under which the
participants agree to comply with standards established by the
board, including any standards the board may establish that:
(A) provide for program management that offers a
centralized decision-making process allowing for inclusion of each
entity participating in the partnership;
(B) provide for access to clinical training
positions for students in nursing and medical education programs
that are not participating in the partnership; and
(C) specify the details of any requirement
relating to a student in a participating education program being
employed after graduation in a hospital participating in the
partnership, including any details relating to the employment of
students who do not complete the program, are not offered a position
at the hospital, or choose to pursue other employment;
(2) includes a demonstrable education model to:
(A) increase the number of students enrolled in,
the number of students graduating from, and the number of faculty
employed by each participating education program; and
(B) improve student retention in each
participating education program;
(3) indicates the availability of money to match all
or a portion of the grant money, including matching money from a
hospital, private or nonprofit entity, or institution of higher
education;
(4) can be replicated by other emergency and trauma
care education partnerships or other nursing or medical education
programs; and
(5) includes plans for sustainability of the
partnership.
Sec. 61.9805. GRANTS, GIFTS, AND DONATIONS. In addition to
money appropriated by the legislature, the board may solicit,
accept, and spend grants, gifts, and donations from any public or
private source for the purposes of this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9806. RULES. The board shall adopt rules for the
administration of the Texas emergency and trauma care education
partnership program. The rules must include:
(1) provisions relating to applying for a grant under
this subchapter; and
(2) standards of accountability to be met by any
emergency and trauma care education partnership awarded a grant
under this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9807. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (a) Each emergency
and trauma care education partnership that receives a grant under
this subchapter shall submit to the board narrative and financial
reports that include information concerning the extent to which
during the reporting period the partnership has complied with
accountability standards established by the board.
(b) Not later than December 31 of each even-numbered year,
the board shall submit a report to the governor, lieutenant
governor, and speaker of the house of representatives. The report
shall include a list and description of partnerships created under
this subchapter and the number of new nursing and medical student
enrollees.
Sec. 61.9808. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. A reasonable amount,
not to exceed three percent, of any money appropriated for purposes
of this subchapter may be used to pay the costs of administering
this subchapter.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt rules for the implementation and administration of the Texas
emergency and trauma care education partnership program
established under Subchapter GG, Chapter 61, Education Code, as
added by this Act. The board may adopt the initial rules in the
manner provided by law for emergency rules.
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, 2011.