74R9697 KLL-F
By Rangel H.B. No. 2311
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2311:
By Hirschi C.S.H.B. No. 2311
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of a health professional recruitment
1-3 program; making an appropriation.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle E, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 107 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 107. HEALTH PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT PROGRAM
1-8 Sec. 107.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Health professional" means:
1-10 (A) a resident physician who is enrolled in an
1-11 accredited residency training program in this state in the
1-12 specialty of family practice, general internal medicine, general
1-13 pediatric medicine, or general obstetrics and gynecology;
1-14 (B) a registered nurse who is enrolled in an
1-15 accredited advanced nurse practitioner program in this state
1-16 leading to registration with the Board of Nurse Examiners as an
1-17 advanced nurse practitioner in general pediatrics, family, school,
1-18 gerontological, or women's health or as a certified nurse midwife;
1-19 or
1-20 (C) a student enrolled in the final year of a
1-21 bachelor's or in a master's level physician assistant program
1-22 approved by the Committee on Allied Health Education and
1-23 Accreditation or its successor.
1-24 (2) "Medically underserved area" means an area
2-1 designated by the United States Secretary of Health and Human
2-2 Services as having:
2-3 (A) a shortage of personal health services or a
2-4 population group that has such a shortage as provided by 42 U.S.C.
2-5 Section 300e-1(7); or
2-6 (B) a health professional shortage as provided
2-7 by 42 U.S.C. Section 254e(a)(1).
2-8 Sec. 107.002. HEALTH PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT PROGRAM.
2-9 (a) The board shall establish a program in the department to
2-10 assist communities in recruiting and retaining health professionals
2-11 to practice in medically underserved areas.
2-12 (b) The board by rule shall establish:
2-13 (1) eligibility criteria for applicants;
2-14 (2) grant application procedures;
2-15 (3) guidelines relating to grant amounts; and
2-16 (4) procedures for evaluating grant applications.
2-17 (c) The board by rule shall establish a system of priorities
2-18 relating to the geographic areas covered, classes of health
2-19 professions eligible to receive funding under the program, and
2-20 level of stipend support for each type of health professional.
2-21 Sec. 107.003. ADMINISTRATION. (a) The board shall adopt
2-22 rules necessary to administer this chapter, and the department
2-23 shall administer the program in accordance with board rules.
2-24 (b) The department, in conjunction with the Center for Rural
2-25 Health Initiatives, shall conduct field research, collect data, and
2-26 prepare statistical and other reports relating to the need for the
2-27 program.
3-1 Sec. 107.004. STIPENDS. (a) An eligible health
3-2 professional who enters into a contract in accordance with Section
3-3 107.005 to provide services in a medically underserved area may
3-4 apply to participate in the program.
3-5 (b) The department shall award stipends to health
3-6 professionals for one-year periods. A stipend awarded under this
3-7 section may not exceed $15,000 each year.
3-8 (c) The department may renew a stipend used to assist a
3-9 particular health professional.
3-10 (d) A health professional is not eligible for a stipend
3-11 under this chapter for a period longer than is ordinarily and
3-12 customarily required for the course of study or the completion of
3-13 residency training.
3-14 (e) A health professional who receives a stipend under this
3-15 chapter is not eligible to receive assistance under any state
3-16 educational loan repayment program or other state incentive
3-17 program.
3-18 Sec. 107.005. REQUIRED CONTRACT. (a) The department may
3-19 award a stipend to a health professional only if the health
3-20 professional signs a contract agreeing to provide services in a
3-21 medically underserved area for at least one year for each year that
3-22 the health professional receives a stipend under this chapter.
3-23 (b) The contract must provide that if the health
3-24 professional does not provide the required services in the
3-25 medically underserved area or provides those services for less than
3-26 the required term, the health professional is personally liable to
3-27 the state for:
4-1 (1) the total amount of the stipend money the health
4-2 professional received;
4-3 (2) interest on that total amount that is:
4-4 (A) at a rate equal to the auction average rate
4-5 quoted on a bank discount basis for 26-week treasury bills issued
4-6 by the United States government, as published by the Federal
4-7 Reserve Board, for the week preceding the week in which the
4-8 contract is signed plus five percent a year; and
4-9 (B) for the period beginning on the date the
4-10 health professional signs the contract and ending on the date the
4-11 health professional repays the amount of the stipend; and
4-12 (3) the state's reasonable expenses incurred in
4-13 obtaining payment, including reasonable attorney's fees.
4-14 Sec. 107.006. FUNDING. The board may seek, receive, and
4-15 spend funds received through an appropriation, grant, donation, or
4-16 reimbursement from any public or private source to administer this
4-17 chapter.
4-18 SECTION 2. Not later than February 1, 1997, the Texas Board
4-19 of Health shall report to each house of the 75th Legislature on the
4-20 allocation of funds to the health professional recruitment program
4-21 established under Chapter 107, Health and Safety Code, as added by
4-22 this Act, and on the progress of the program in recruiting and
4-23 retaining resident physicians to practice in medically underserved
4-24 areas.
4-25 SECTION 3. (a) The sums of $330,000 for the fiscal year
4-26 beginning September 1, 1995, and $330,000 for the fiscal year
4-27 beginning September 1, 1996, are appropriated from the general
5-1 revenue fund to the Texas Department of Health to be used for the
5-2 health professional recruitment program established under Chapter
5-3 107, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
5-4 (b) The Texas Department of Health may spend not more than
5-5 10 percent of the amounts appropriated under Subsection (a) of this
5-6 section for administering the health professional recruitment
5-7 program.
5-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-14 passage, and it is so enacted.