By: Rodriguez S.B. No. 1022

(In the Senate - Filed March 1, 2011; March 16, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human Services; April 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 21, 2011, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the graduate medical training requirements for certain foreign medical school graduates applying for a license to practice medicine in this state.

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

SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 155.003, Occupations Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) To be eligible for a license under this chapter, an applicant must present proof satisfactory to the board that the applicant:

(1) is at least 21 years of age;

(2) is of good professional character and has not violated Section 164.051, 164.052, or 164.053;

(3) has completed:

(A) at least 60 semester hours of college courses, other than courses in medical school, that are acceptable to The University of Texas at Austin for credit on a bachelor of arts degree or a bachelor of science degree;

(B) the entire primary, secondary, and premedical education required in the country of medical school graduation, if the medical school is located outside the United States or Canada; or

(C) substantially equivalent courses as determined by board rule;

(4) is a graduate of a medical school located in the United States or Canada and approved by the board;

(5) has either:

(A) successfully completed one year of graduate medical training approved by the board in the United States or Canada; or

(B) graduated from a medical school located outside the United States or Canada and has successfully completed two [three] years of graduate medical training approved by the board in the United States or Canada;

(6) has passed an examination accepted or administered by the board; and

(7) has passed a Texas medical jurisprudence examination as determined by board rule.

SECTION 2. Section 155.004, Occupations Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 155.004. ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATES OF CERTAIN FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOLS. A license applicant who is a graduate of a medical school that is located outside the United States and Canada must present proof satisfactory to the board that the applicant:

(1) is a graduate of a school whose curriculum meets the requirements for an unapproved medical school as determined by a committee of experts selected by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board;

(2) has successfully completed[:

[(A) at least three years of graduate medical training in the United States or Canada that was approved by the board; or

[(B)] at least two years of graduate medical training in the United States or Canada that was approved by the board [and at least one year of graduate medical training outside the United States or Canada that was approved for advanced standing by a specialty board organization approved by the board];

(3) holds a valid certificate issued by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates; and

(4) is able to communicate in English.

SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 155.005, Occupations Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) To be eligible for a license under this chapter, an applicant who has been a student of a foreign medical school must present proof satisfactory to the board that the applicant:

(1) meets the requirements of Section 155.003;

(2) has studied medicine in a medical school located outside the United States and Canada that is acceptable to the board;

(3) has completed all of the didactic work of the foreign medical school but has not graduated from the school;

(4) has attained a score satisfactory to a medical school in the United States approved by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education on a qualifying examination and has satisfactorily completed one academic year of supervised clinical training for foreign medical students, as defined by the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education (Fifth Pathway Program), under the direction of the medical school in the United States;

(5) has attained a passing score on the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates examination or another examination, if required by the board;

(6) has successfully completed at least two [three] years of graduate medical training in the United States or Canada that was approved by the board as of the date the training was completed; and

(7) has passed the license examination under Subchapter B required by the board of each applicant.

SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections 155.003, 155.004, and 155.005, Occupations Code, apply only to an application for a license to practice medicine submitted to the Texas Medical Board on or after the effective date of this Act. An application for a license submitted before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the application was submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.

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