82R2029 KEL-D
By: Shelton H.B. No. 987
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a physician residency grant program and other programs
to support graduate medical education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter I-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I-1. PHYSICIAN RESIDENCY GRANTS
Sec. 61.511. PHYSICIAN RESIDENCY GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The
board shall establish and administer the physician residency grant
program to provide grants to accredited residency programs at
health care entities, including academic medical centers,
nonprofit community hospitals, county health systems, and
community health clinics, that apply to the board in the manner
prescribed by the board. The board shall establish reasonable
eligibility criteria for grant recipients as appropriate to achieve
the purposes of this subchapter.
(b) The board may provide grants only to support physician
residency positions created on or after January 1, 2012.
(c) The board shall award grants to residency programs in
the following order of priority:
(1) programs offered by health care entities that are
located in underserved communities;
(2) programs offered by health care entities that, for
the purpose of receiving matching funds, enter into partnership
agreements with other entities, including health care entities,
corporations, or community collaborative groups; and
(3) programs offered by health care entities that have
demonstrated an ability to maintain those programs over time.
(d) The board shall award grants for all residency positions
awarded a grant under this section in the preceding year before
awarding a grant for a residency position that did not receive a
grant in the preceding year.
(e) A grant received by a health care entity under this
section may be used only to:
(1) pay all or part of the salaries of resident
physicians in the appropriate programs; and
(2) supplement the salaries of teaching faculty and
program administrators.
(f) For each residency position, the grant program may
provide funding of not more than $65,000 each year for the resident
physician's salary and supplemental funding of not more than $8,000
for the salaries of teaching faculty and program administrators.
The grant program may not provide funding for more than 420
residency positions each year.
(g) Under the grant program, the board shall:
(1) provide funding to ensure that each resident
physician's salary is paid at a level that:
(A) is competitive with the salaries of other
resident physicians working within the same specialty in this
state; and
(B) as determined by the board, exceeds the
average statewide salary for resident physicians, other than
resident physicians whose salaries are funded under the grant
program; and
(2) make appropriate recommendations for legislative
changes as necessary, if the amounts described by Subsection (f)
are not sufficient for the purposes of this subsection.
(h) The board shall require the return of any unused grant
money by, or shall decline to award additional grants to, a
residency program that receives a grant but fails to create, within
a reasonable period, the number of residency positions proposed in
the program's grant application. The board may restore grant money
or award additional grants, as applicable, on the program's
creation of the proposed number of positions.
(i) The board shall adopt rules for the administration of
this section.
SECTION 2. Section 61.0594, Education Code, is transferred
to Subchapter I-1, Chapter 61, Education Code, as added by this Act,
and redesignated as Section 61.512, Education Code, to read as
follows:
Sec. 61.512 [61.0594]. COORDINATED FUNDING OF GRADUATE
MEDICAL EDUCATION. (a) The board shall administer a program to
support graduate medical education programs in this state
consistent with the needs of this state for graduate medical
education and the training of resident physicians in accredited
residency programs in appropriate fields and specialties,
including primary care specialties described by Section 58.008(a).
(b) From money available to the program, the board may make
grants or formula distributions to:
(1) support appropriate graduate medical education
programs and activities for which adequate funds are not otherwise
available; or
(2) foster new or expanded graduate medical education
programs or activities that the board determines will address the
state's needs for graduate medical education.
(c) To be eligible to receive a grant or distribution under
this section, an institution or other entity must incur the costs of
faculty supervision and education or the stipend costs of resident
physicians in accredited clinical residency programs in this state.
In making grants and distributions under this section, the board
shall give consideration to the costs incurred by medical schools
or other entities to support faculty responsible for the education
or supervision of resident physicians in accredited graduate
medical education programs, including programs in osteopathic
medical education.
(d) The program is funded by appropriations, by gifts,
grants, and donations made to support the program, and by any other
funds the board obtains, including federal funds, for the program.
From program funds, the comptroller of public accounts shall issue
warrants to each institution or other entity determined by the
board as eligible to receive a grant or distribution from the
program in the amount certified by the board. An amount granted to
an institution or other entity under the program may be used only to
cover expenses of training residents of the particular program or
activity for which the award is made in accordance with any
conditions imposed by the board and may not otherwise be expended
for the general support of the institution or entity.
(e) The board shall appoint an advisory committee to advise
the board regarding the development and administration of the
program, including considering requests for program grants and
establishing formulas for distribution of money under the program.
The advisory committee shall consist of:
(1) the executive director of the Texas State Board of
Medical Examiners or the executive director's designee;
(2) the chair of the Family Practice Residency
Advisory Committee or the chair's designee;
(3) the chair of the Primary Care Residency Advisory
Committee or the chair's designee;
(4) the commissioner of the Health and Human Services
Commission or the commissioner's designee; and
(5) the following members appointed by the board:
(A) one representative of a teaching hospital
affiliated with a Texas medical school;
(B) one representative of a teaching hospital not
affiliated with a Texas medical school;
(C) three representatives of medical schools, at
least one representing a medical school in The University of Texas
System, and at least one representing a medical school not in The
University of Texas System;
(D) two physicians active in private practice,
one of whom must be a generalist;
(E) one doctor of osteopathic medicine active in
private practice;
(F) one representative of an entity providing
managed health care;
(G) three clinical faculty members, at least one
of whom must be a generalist;
(H) one resident physician, who is a nonvoting
member; and
(I) one medical student, who is a nonvoting
member.
(f) The appointed advisory committee members serve
staggered three-year terms. The board shall make the initial
committee appointments to terms of one, two, and three years as
necessary so that one-third of the appointed members' terms expire
each year, as nearly as practicable. The committee shall elect one
of its members as presiding officer for a term of one year. The
committee shall meet at least once each year at the times requested
by the board or set by the presiding officer of the committee. A
member of the advisory committee may not be compensated for service
on the committee but is entitled to be reimbursed by the board for
actual expenses incurred in the performance of the member's duties
as a committee member.
(g) The advisory committee shall:
(1) review applications for funding of graduate
medical education programs under this section and make
recommendations for approval or disapproval of those applications;
(2) make recommendations relating to the standards and
criteria used for consideration and approval of grants or for the
development of formulas for distribution of funding under this
section;
(3) recommend to the board an allocation of funds
among medical schools, teaching hospitals, and other entities that
may receive funds under this section; and
(4) perform other duties assigned by the board.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.