By Rangel H.B. No. 2311
74R6903 KLL-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of a health professional recruitment
1-3 program.
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 practice, general internal
1-13 medicine, general pediatric medicine, or general obstetrics and
1-14 gynecology;
1-15 (B) a registered nurse who is enrolled in an
1-16 accredited advanced nurse practitioner program in this state
1-17 leading to registration with the Board of Nurse Examiners as an
1-18 advanced nurse practitioner in general pediatrics, family, school,
1-19 gerontological, or women's health or as a certified nurse midwife;
1-20 or
1-21 (C) a student enrolled in the final year of a
1-22 bachelor's or in a master's level physician assistant program
1-23 approved by the Committee on Allied Health Education and
1-24 Accreditation.
2-1 (2) "Medically underserved area" means an area
2-2 designated by the United States Secretary of Health and Human
2-3 Services as having:
2-4 (A) a shortage of personal health services or a
2-5 population group that has such a shortage as provided by 42 U.S.C.
2-6 Section 300e-1(7); or
2-7 (B) a health professional shortage as provided
2-8 by 42 U.S.C. Section 254e(a)(1).
2-9 Sec. 107.002. HEALTH PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT PROGRAM.
2-10 (a) The board shall establish a grant program in the department to
2-11 assist nonprofit, community-based organizations in recruiting and
2-12 retaining health professionals to practice in medically underserved
2-13 areas.
2-14 (b) The board by rule shall establish:
2-15 (1) eligibility criteria for applicants;
2-16 (2) grant application procedures;
2-17 (3) guidelines relating to grant amounts; and
2-18 (4) procedures for evaluating grant applications.
2-19 (c) The board by rule shall establish a system of priorities
2-20 relating to the types of services provided, organizations eligible,
2-21 geographic areas covered, or classes of health professions eligible
2-22 to receive grant money.
2-23 Sec. 107.003. ADMINISTRATION. (a) The board shall adopt
2-24 rules necessary to administer this chapter, and the department
2-25 shall administer the program in accordance with board rules.
2-26 (b) The department, in conjunction with the Center for Rural
2-27 Health Initiatives, shall conduct field research, collect data, and
3-1 prepare statistical and other reports relating to the need for the
3-2 program.
3-3 Sec. 107.004. GRANTS. (a) A nonprofit, community-based
3-4 organization located in a medically underserved area may apply for
3-5 one or more grants under this chapter.
3-6 (b) An organization may use a grant awarded under this
3-7 chapter only to assist the organization in paying for the salary or
3-8 expenses of a health professional who will provide services to the
3-9 organization, in accordance with Section 107.005, in one or more of
3-10 the following:
3-11 (1) family practice;
3-12 (2) general practice;
3-13 (3) general internal medicine;
3-14 (4) general pediatric medicine;
3-15 (5) general obstetrics and gynecology;
3-16 (6) school health;
3-17 (7) geriatric health; or
3-18 (8) women's health.
3-19 (c) The department shall award grants for one-year periods.
3-20 A grant awarded under this chapter may not exceed $15,000 a year.
3-21 (d) At the end of the grant period, an organization shall
3-22 return to the department any unused grant money, regardless of the
3-23 reason the money was not used.
3-24 (e) The department may renew a grant used to assist a
3-25 particular health professional and may continue to award grants to
3-26 an organization to assist other health professionals.
3-27 (f) A health professional is not eligible for a grant under
4-1 this chapter for a period longer than is ordinarily and customarily
4-2 required for the course of study or the completion of training.
4-3 Sec. 107.005. REQUIRED CONTRACT. (a) An organization may
4-4 pay grant money to a health professional only if the health
4-5 professional signs a contract agreeing to provide services to the
4-6 organization in an area of practice specified by Section 107.004
4-7 for at least one year for each year that the health professional
4-8 received a grant under this chapter.
4-9 (b) The contract must provide that if the health
4-10 professional does not provide the required services to the
4-11 organization or provides those services for less than the required
4-12 term, the health professional is personally liable to the state
4-13 for:
4-14 (1) the total amount of grant money the health
4-15 professional received;
4-16 (2) interest on that total amount at a rate of 12
4-17 percent a year for the period beginning on the date the health
4-18 professional signs the contract and ending on the date the health
4-19 professional repays the grant amount; and
4-20 (3) the state's reasonable expenses incurred in
4-21 obtaining payment, including reasonable attorney's fees.
4-22 Sec. 107.006. FUNDING. The board may seek, receive, and
4-23 spend funds received through an appropriation, grant, donation, or
4-24 reimbursement from any public or private source to administer this
4-25 chapter.
4-26 SECTION 2. Not later than February 1, 1997, the Texas Board
4-27 of Health shall report to each house of the 75th Legislature on the
5-1 allocation of funds to the health professional recruitment program
5-2 established under Chapter 107, Health and Safety Code, as added by
5-3 this Act, and on the progress of the program in recruiting and
5-4 retaining resident physicians to practice in medically underserved
5-5 areas.
5-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-12 passage, and it is so enacted.