By: Branch, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini) H.B. No. 3456
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 2009;
  April 24, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Higher
  Education; April 29, 2009, reported favorably by the following
  vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 29, 2009, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the education and preparation of resident physicians.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 61.097, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 61.097.  CONTRACTS WITH RESPECT TO RESIDENT
  PHYSICIANS.  (a)  The board shall contract with [the] Baylor
  College of Medicine for the administration, direction, and
  performance of services necessary or proper to the education,
  training, development, and preparation of resident physicians for a
  career in medicine. [Included in those services shall be the
  payment and furnishing by the medical school to the resident
  physicians of all compensation that has previously been paid or
  furnished by the hospital or hospitals in which the resident
  physicians have been educated and trained.]
         (b)  [In Sections 61.097 and 61.098 of this code:
               [(1)     "Resident physician" means a person who is
  appointed a resident physician by the Baylor College of Medicine
  and who:
                     [(A)     has received a Doctor of Medicine or a
  Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Baylor College of
  Medicine or from one of the schools of medicine listed in Section
  58.001 of this code; or
                     [(B)     is a citizen of Texas and has received a
  Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from
  some other school of medicine that is accredited by the Liaison
  Committee on Medical Education or by the Bureau of Professional
  Education of the American Osteopathic Association.
               [(2)     "Primary teaching hospital" is a hospital at
  which the Baylor College of Medicine educates and trains both
  resident physicians and undergraduate medical students.
               [(3)     "Compensation" includes stipends; payments, if
  any, for services rendered; and fringe benefits when applied to
  payments to or for the benefit of resident physicians.
         [(c)     A person may not be considered a resident physician for
  a period of time longer than is ordinarily and customarily required
  for a resident physician to complete a medical specialty program
  approved by the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education
  for the specialty in which the resident physician seeks
  certification as a diplomate and to obtain the certification from
  the appropriate board or agency approved by the American Board of
  Medical Specialties.
         [(d)     Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (c) of
  this section, a person may not be considered a resident physician
  under this section for a period of time longer than four years.
         [(e)     The total number of the first-year resident physicians
  compensated under this section and Chapter 58 of this code may not
  exceed the combined total number of persons in the previous year's
  graduating classes of the schools listed in Section 58.001 of this
  code and the Baylor College of Medicine. The Baylor College of
  Medicine shall give priority consideration to applicants who
  demonstrate a willingness to practice in medically underserved
  areas of Texas.
         [(f)     It is the intent of this section that eventually at
  least 50 percent of the first-year resident physicians appointed by
  medical schools shall be in the primary care areas of family
  medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, and
  obstetrics/gynecology, with 25 percent of those residents in family
  practice.
         [(g)]  In the exercise of the authority under Subsection (a)
  [of this section], the board shall disburse to [the] Baylor College
  of Medicine the money [, out of funds] appropriated by the
  legislature to the board for that purpose [, an amount not to exceed
  $15,000 per fiscal year of disbursement for each resident physician
  appointed by the school for that year]. The money disbursed to
  Baylor College of Medicine under this section shall be spent by the
  school exclusively for the education, training, development, and
  preparation of resident physicians for a career in medicine [The
  board shall establish, by contract with the Baylor College of
  Medicine, the method by which the disbursement shall be
  accomplished. The funds authorized by this section are separate
  from and in addition to the funds authorized in Sections 61.092 and
  61.093 of this code].
         SECTION 2.  Sections 61.098 and 61.099, Education Code, are
  repealed.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a contract entered into or renewed under Section 61.097,
  Education Code, on or after the effective date of this Act. A
  contract entered into or renewed under that section before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the
  contract was entered into or renewed, and the former law is
  continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
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