BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center C.S.S.B. 1095
80R16524 YDB-D By: Uresti et al.
Committee Report (Substituted)
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Texas has a shortage of physicians and needs more graduate medical education slots to train the physicians required to meet our health care needs. The shortage of training slots virtually guarantees that medical students will be forced to leave the state upon graduation. Given the strong relationship between location of graduate medical education training and entrance into practice, those leaving will likely not return to Texas.
C.S.S.B. 1095 authorizes a study that will look into the feasibility of taking a percentage of physician licensing fees to create more residency programs and/or increase the number of medical residents. The bill places emphasis on medically underserved areas and underrepresented medical specialties.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. STUDY ON MEDICAL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS AND MEDICAL RESIDENTS. (a) Requires the Texas Health Care Policy Council (council), in coordination with the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio, the Regional Center for Health Workforce Studies at the Center for Health Economics and Policy of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the Texas Medical Board to conduct a study regarding increasing the number of medical residency programs and medical residents in Texas and the number of physicians practicing medical specialties.
(b) Requires the study to examine certain factors and make recommendations for improvement.
(c) Requires the council to report the results of the study to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of representatives and to make available the raw data from the study to those three individuals and the House Committee on Public Health and the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services not later than December 1, 2008.
(d) Authorizes the council to accept gifts, grants, and donations of any kind from any source for the purposes of this section.
SECTION 2. (a) Effective date: September 1, 2007.
(b) Provides that this Act expires January 1, 2009.