Bill Text: CA SB21 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: University of California: UC Riverside Medical School.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-09-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 203, Statutes of 2013. [SB21 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB21-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 21 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 203
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 5, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 26, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 24, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 18, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Roth
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Medina)
(Coauthors: Senators Correa and Hueso)
DECEMBER 3, 2012
An act relating to the University of California.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 21, Roth. University of California: UC Riverside Medical
School.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the
University of California as a public trust under the administration
of the Regents of the University of California. The University of
California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in
Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego,
San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.
The bill would request the School of Medicine at the University of
California, Riverside, to develop a program consistent with its
mission, in conjunction with the health facilities of its medical
residency programs, to identify eligible medical residents and to
assist those medical residents to apply for physician retention
programs, including, but not limited to, the Steven M. Thompson
Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California's supply of primary care physicians is below what
is considered sufficient to meet patient needs. In the rapidly
growing and ethnically diverse area of inland southern California,
the shortage is particularly severe, with just 40 primary care
physicians per 100,000 patients, which is far fewer than the
recommended range of 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000
patients. Furthermore, Latinos, African Americans, and Native
Americans are vastly underrepresented in the physician workforce.
(b) California lags substantially in the number of medical school
seats per capita, having just 17.3 seats per 100,000 persons,
compared to the United States average of 31.4 seats per 100,000
persons, according to statistics published by the Association of
American Medical Colleges.
(c) According to the California HealthCare Foundation, 72 percent
of California's 58 counties have an undersupply of primary care
physicians, with primary care physicians making up just 34 percent of
California's physician workforce.
(d) The University of California, Riverside, (UCR) has had a
longstanding two-year medical education program and its independent
four-year school of medicine has received preliminary accreditation
from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the nationally
recognized accrediting body for medical education programs leading to
M.D. degrees in the United States and Canada. When this new
four-year medical school opens in August 2013, it will become the
first new public medical school in California in more than 40 years.
(e) This community-based medical school with a public mission to
expand and diversify the region's physician workforce and to improve
the health of people living in inland southern California has made a
commitment to underserved patient populations.
(f) There are two principal determinants of where a physician
practices: (1) where he or she grew up, and (2) where he or she
completes residency training following medical school graduation.
(g) The UCR medical school has strategies to capitalize on both of
these factors. Among these strategies are all of the following: (1)
developing student pipeline programs that inspire more young people
in the region to pursue careers in medicine and other allied health
professions and to recruit them to the UCR medical school; (2)
utilizing a holistic review of medical school applicants that takes
into account diverse life experiences in addition to academic
performance; (3) teaching a curriculum that emphasizes key
competencies for primary care medicine, including wellness and
prevention, evidence-based medicine, and chronic disease management;
(4) creating new residency training programs in primary care and
those short-supply specialties that are most needed in inland
southern California; and (5) continuing UCR's commitment to the
recruitment, retention, and advancement of talented students,
faculty, and staff from historically excluded populations who are
currently underrepresented in medical education and the practice of
medicine.
(h) As a further incentive for medical students to choose primary
care specialties, the UCR medical school has developed an innovative
"loan-to-scholarship" program, is actively raising nonstate funds to
expand that program, and is educating students and graduates about
existing public and private physician recruitment and retention
programs, including, but not limited to, the Steven M. Thompson
Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program established pursuant to
Article 5 (commencing with Section 128550) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of
Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code.
(i) The appropriation of state funding in the annual Budget Act,
in accordance with Section 16 of Assembly Bill 94 of the 2013-14
Regular Session, to the UCR medical school will add more physicians
to underserved areas in inland southern California and help
California meet the objectives of the federal Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) in the short term and the
long term by expanding the physician workforce.
SEC. 2. The School of Medicine at the University of California,
Riverside, is requested to develop a program, consistent with its
mission, in conjunction with the health facilities of its medical
residency programs, to identify eligible medical residents and to
assist those medical residents to apply for physician retention
programs, including, but not limited to, the Steven M. Thompson
Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program established pursuant to
Article 5 (commencing with Section 128550) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of
Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code.
