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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