AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Texas must ensure that we are retaining the physicians necessary to service a growing and diverse population.  To protect Texas' investment in medical school graduates, as well as its overall investment in public health, we must first understand where medical school graduates choose to complete their residency, where medical residents choose to practice, and to what extent Texas doctors practice primary care after completing their residency. With this information, we can better track our public investment and learn new ways to protect our investment in the future.

 

S.B. 295 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to create a system to acquire and maintain data regarding the initial residency choices of graduates of Texas medical schools as well as the initial practice choices made by those who have completed Texas medical residency programs.

 

THECB would be required to use any data reasonably available to THECB and to collect information from graduates over the two-year period following the completion of their residency. The information collected would include how long Texas residency graduates practice primary care, which medical specialties they report as their primary medical practice, and the location of the practices established by the person.

 

As proposed, S.B. 295 amends current law relating to tracking career information for graduates of Texas medical schools and persons completing medical residency programs in Texas.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 61.0906, Education Code) of this bill.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, by adding Section 61.0906, as follows:

 

Sec. 61.0906. TRACKING SYSTEM FOR MEDICAL TRAINING AND PRACTICE CHOICES. (a) Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) by rule to establish a system under which THEBC acquires and maintains data regarding the initial residency program choices made by graduates of medical schools in this state and the initial practice choices made by persons completing medical residency programs in this state. Requires that the tracking system:

 

(1) use any data reasonably available to THEBC, including data maintained by or accessible to medical schools or residency programs in this state; and

 

(2) with respect to a person who completes a medical residency program in this state, collect relevant information for the two-year period following completion of that program.

 

(b) Provides that for purposes of Subsection (a)(2), relevant information includes:

 

(1) whether and for how long physicians who complete medical residency programs in this state work in primary care in this state and which medical specialties they report as their primary medical practice; and

 

(2) the locations of the practices established by those persons.

 

SECTION 2. (a) Requires THECB, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, to adopt rules for the implementation and administration of the tracking system established under Section 61.0906, Education Code, as added by this Act.  Authorizes THECB to adopt the initial rules in the manner provided by law for emergency rules.

 

(b) Requires THECB, not later than January 1, 2016, to establish the tracking system required by Section 61.0906, Education Code, as added by this Act.

 

SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2015.