75R10457 CAG-F                           

         By Cuellar                                            H.B. No. 2613

         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2613:

         By Solis                                          C.S.H.B. No. 2613

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the creation of the Faculty Enhancement Program for

 1-3     Generalist Physicians.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  The state's capacity for training more medical

 1-6     students for primary care careers is dependent on the availability

 1-7     of an adequate number of primary care faculty at medical schools.

 1-8     Compensation levels for primary care faculty at Texas medical

 1-9     schools are too low to compete successfully with financial

1-10     opportunities offered by the private sector and by other medical

1-11     schools.  The average length of time required to fill a vacant

1-12     generalist faculty position is currently more than 12 months.

1-13     Additional support for recruiting new generalist faculty would

1-14     allow Texas medical schools to be competitive with the private

1-15     sector and with the nation's other medical schools in recruiting

1-16     family physicians, general internists, and general pediatricians

1-17     for clinical faculty.

1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 58.007, Education Code, is amended by

1-19     adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

1-20           (h)  The committee shall:

1-21                 (1)  review for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating

1-22     Board any application for approval and funding of faculty

1-23     enhancement for generalist physicians at a medical school described

1-24     in Section 58.009;

 2-1                 (2)  make recommendations to the board relating to the

 2-2     standards and criteria for approval of faculty enhancement awards;

 2-3                 (3)  monitor compliance with the contractual conditions

 2-4     associated with faculty enhancement awards; and

 2-5                 (4)  evaluate the results of the faculty enhancement

 2-6     program in reaching the goal of increasing the number of generalist

 2-7     physician faculty at Texas medical schools.

 2-8           SECTION 3.  Chapter 58, Education Code, is amended by adding

 2-9     Section 58.009 to read as follows:

2-10           Sec. 58.009.  FACULTY ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM FOR GENERALIST

2-11     PHYSICIANS.  (a)  Only a medical school as defined by Section

2-12     61.501 is eligible to receive funds under this section.

2-13           (b)  Only a full-time clinical faculty position in family

2-14     practice, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics, at a

2-15     faculty rank not higher than assistant professor or its equivalent,

2-16     is eligible to receive funds under this section.

2-17           (c)  The Primary Care Residency Advisory Committee shall

2-18     recommend to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board an

2-19     allocation of generalist faculty positions that are to receive

2-20     funding under this section. The committee shall, in making a

2-21     recommendation under this subsection, take into consideration the

2-22     following factors:

2-23                 (1)  the faculty-student ratio in the generalist

2-24     specialty at the applicant medical school;

2-25                 (2)  the length of time a budgeted generalist faculty

2-26     position has not been filled;

2-27                 (3)  whether the position proposed is a new generalist

 3-1     faculty position; and

 3-2                 (4)  any other factors as determined appropriate by the

 3-3     committee.

 3-4           (d)  After funds are awarded to support a generalist faculty

 3-5     position at a medical school, the board shall award funds to

 3-6     support that generalist faculty position for a period not to exceed

 3-7     an additional academic year.  After that time, a medical school

 3-8     shall continue to provide an amount equal to the annualized faculty

 3-9     enhancement award in its operating budget to maintain the level of

3-10     compensation for the position after the grant period has ended.

3-11           (e)  The board may, in the first state fiscal biennium after

3-12     the effective date of this section, spend not more than five

3-13     percent of the amounts appropriated for the Faculty Enhancement

3-14     Program for Generalist Physicians for administering the program.

3-15     In a subsequent biennium, the board may not spend more than three

3-16     percent of the amount appropriated for administering the program.

3-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-23     passage, and it is so enacted.