By: Watson S.B. No. 814

(In the Senate - Filed February 12, 2009; March 4, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education; May 4, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 4, 2009, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 814 By: Duncan

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to physician education, including repayment assistance for certain physician education loans and requirements for family practice residency programs.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 61.532, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 61.532. ELIGIBILITY. (a) To be eligible to receive repayment assistance, a physician must apply to the coordinating board and have completed at least one year of medical practice:

(1) in private practice in an economically depressed or rural medically underserved area of the state;

(2) for one of the following state agencies:

(A) the [Texas] Department of State Health Services;

(B) the [Texas] Department of Aging and Disability Services [Mental Health and Mental Retardation];

(C) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice [Corrections]; or

(D) the Texas Youth Commission; [or]

(3) for an approved family practice residency training program established under Subchapter I as a clinical faculty member and have completed training in an approved family practice residency training program on or after July 1, 1994; or

(4) in primary care or in a medical specialty of acute physician shortage, as determined by the coordinating board in consultation with the Department of State Health Services, and in:

(A) a hospital or clinic with a patient population of whom at least 50 percent are uninsured or receive Medicaid; or

(B) a public hospital, as defined by Section 61.002, Health and Safety Code.

(b) The coordinating board may by rule provide for repayment assistance on a pro rata basis for physicians practicing as described by Subsection (a)(2), (3), or (4) on a part-time basis [for an approved family practice residency training program established under Subchapter I of this chapter or a state agency specified in Subsection (a) of this section].

SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 61.535, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The coordinating board shall deliver any repayment made under this subchapter in a lump sum payable:

(1) to both the [lender and the] physician and the lender or other holder of the loan; or

(2) on behalf of the physician, directly to the lender or other holder of the loan[, in accordance with federal law].

SECTION 3. Section 61.536, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 61.536. ADVISORY COMMITTEES. The coordinating board may:

(1) appoint advisory committees from outside the board's membership to assist the board in performing its duties under this subchapter; and

(2) request the assistance of the Department of State Health Services and the Family Practice Residency Advisory Committee in performing those duties.

SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 61.537, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The coordinating board shall adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter, including rules [a rule] that:

(1) provide for the commissioner of higher education to set an appropriate [sets a] maximum amount of repayment assistance that may be received by a physician in one year, except that the maximum amount of repayment assistance that may be received in one year by a physician who establishes eligibility under Section 61.532(a) may not exceed $35,000;

(2) authorize [and a rule that authorizes] the Department of State Health Services [Family Practice Residency Advisory Committee] to establish priorities among eligible physicians for repayment assistance, by considering:

(A) [taking into account] the degree of physician shortage;

(B) [,] geographic locations;

(C) [,] whether the physician is or will be providing service in an economically depressed or rural [a] medically underserved area or service as described by Section 61.532(a)(4);[,] and

(D) other criteria the department [committee] considers appropriate; and

(3) administer the program under this subchapter in a manner that maximizes any matching funds available through the National Health Service Corps program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

SECTION 5. Section 61.539, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:

(b) The amount set aside shall be transferred to the comptroller of public accounts to be maintained in the state treasury for the sole purpose of repayment of student loans of a physician serving:

(1) in a designated state agency;

(2) [or] in an area of this state that is economically depressed or that is a medically underserved area or health professional shortage area, as designated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, that has a current shortage of physicians; or

(3) as described by Section 61.532(a)(4).

(b-1) Section 403.095, Government Code, does not apply to the amount set aside by this section.

SECTION 6. Subsection (b), Section 51.918, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall:

(1) encourage and coordinate the creation or expansion of a rural preceptor program among medical schools, teaching hospitals, nursing schools, and schools of allied health sciences; and

(2) require family practice residency programs to provide an opportunity for residents to have a one-month rotation through:

(A) a rural setting; [and]

(B) a public health setting; or

(C) an oncology setting.

SECTION 7. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules necessary to administer Subchapter J, Chapter 61, Education Code, as amended by this Act.

SECTION 8. This Act does not make an appropriation. A provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program, creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the provision.

SECTION 9. 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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