81R12954 JSC-D

By: Shelton, Zerwas, Branch, Guillen, H.B. No. 2687

Morrison

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2687:

By: Branch C.S.H.B. No. 2687

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a physician residency matching grant program.

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 MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The board shall establish and administer the physician residency matching grant program to provide matching grants to eligible 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.

(b) The board may provide grants only to support physician residency positions created on or after January 1, 2010, in fields of medicine experiencing shortages, as determined by the statewide health coordinating council created under Chapter 104, Health and Safety Code.

(c) The board shall award grants:

(1) based on each residency program's history or likelihood of placing residents in underserved communities after the residency program is completed; and

(2) in amounts that are proportional to the amount of funding that each residency position will receive from community collaborative groups.

(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 pay:

(1) the faculty costs of educating a resident that are not covered by appropriations under the graduate medical education formula, not to exceed the average statewide faculty cost of educating a resident as determined by the board; and

(2) the salaries of resident physicians in the appropriate programs.

(f) The grant program may provide funding of not more than $65,000 a year for each residency position for not more than 420 residency positions each year.

(g) In each state fiscal biennium following the 2010-2011 biennium, the amount of a grant under this section for a residency position for which a grant was awarded under this section in the preceding biennium may not exceed the amount of the grant for that residency position under this section in that preceding biennium by an amount that exceeds the increase in funding for each graduate medical education position under the graduate medical education formula in the applicable General Appropriations Act. Grants may be awarded in that biennium for additional residency positions that were not funded by grants under this section in the preceding biennium, subject to Subsection (f).

(h) The board shall adopt rules for the administration of this section.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.