Bill Text: NJ S3050 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Requires that certain medical education programs give priority to certain applicants.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-13 - Reported from Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading [S3050 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S3050-Amended.html
Sponsored by:
Senator STEPHEN M. SWEENEY
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
Requires that certain medical education programs give priority to certain applicants.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on May 13, 2019, with amendments.
An Act concerning medical education and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
11. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The shortage of primary care and specialty care physicians is an urgent and growing problem, both nationwide and in New Jersey.
b. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates that, by 2030, there will be an shortfall of between 42,600 and 121,300 physicians nationwide; New Jersey is projected to need at least 3,000 additional physicians by 2020 to keep up with patient demand.
c. As noted in a 2011 report by the former New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals, it is critically important for medical schools and teaching hospitals to engage in coordinated efforts to ensure the number of physicians practicing in New Jersey is sufficient to meet Statewide need. To this end, the report urges teaching hospitals to develop policies, regulations, funding mechanisms, and recruitment and retention programs that are designed to maintain an adequate physician workforce in the State.
d. The New Jersey Hospital Association has similarly recognized the essential role of the State medical education community in promoting practices and programs designed to recruit and retain physicians in New Jersey.
e. Clerkships are a key component in the education and training of future physicians. Challenges in placing medical students in clerkships can result in limitations in the overall pool of future physicians available to practice both in the State and throughout the country, exacerbating the task of keeping up with the expanding demand for health care services nationwide.
f. New Jersey has contributed significant amounts of public funding to support medical schools and teaching hospitals in the State, including appropriating tens of millions of dollars in Graduate Medical Education funding each year.
g. It is therefore necessary and appropriate for the State to take steps to promote, support, and encourage New Jersey medical schools and teaching hospitals in their efforts to recruit and train new medical students, ensure those students have access to quality training and educational opportunities, and expand the pool of future physicians available to practice in the State.1
1[1.] 2.1 a. As used in this section:
1["Accredited State-supported medical school" means one of the four public medical schools in the State: Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, or Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.]1
"Graduate medical education program" means a supervised residency training period or fellowship accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
1["Resident" means an applicant who resided in the State at the time of the applicant's graduation from a high school in the State.]1
"Third and fourth year student clerkships" means the supervised practice of medicine by medical students that usually takes place during the third and fourth years of medical school.
b. 1[A teaching hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) that accepts State funding for graduate medical education programs shall grant priority consideration to an otherwise competitive applicant who is a resident or who is enrolled and in good academic standing at an accredited medical school in the State when considering applicants for placement in a residency or fellowship at that hospital. The failure of a teaching hospital to grant such priority consideration shall result in the reallocation by the State of 20 percent of the teaching hospital's Medicaid funding for graduate medical education programs.
c.]1 A teaching hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-l et seq.) that accepts State funding for graduate medical education programs shall grant priority consideration for placement in third and fourth year student clerkships at the hospital to medical students who are enrolled and in good academic standing at an accredited 1[State-supported]1 medical school 1located in the United States1. 1[The failure of a teaching hospital to grant such priority consideration shall result in the reallocation by the State of 20 percent of the teaching hospital's Medicaid funding for graduate medical education programs] Each teaching hospital shall annually report to the Department of Health the overall number of applicants for third and fourth year student clerkships, the name and location of the medical school attended by each applicant, and the number applicants accepted for third and fourth year student clerkships, including the name and location of the medical school attended by each accepted applicant. A teaching hospital that fails to grant priority consideration to students from medical schools located in the United States shall be subject to penalties or administrative disciplinary action as may be provided by the Commissioner of Health by regulation.
c. In the event that any New Jersey medical school is at risk of losing its accreditation on the grounds that its students are unable to obtain a sufficient number of third and fourth year student clerkships, the medical school may so notify the Commissioner of Health, who shall take such steps as may be necessary and appropriate to encourage teaching hospitals in the State to grant priority consideration to applicants from in-State medical schools for third and fourth year student clerkships1.
d. 1[A] No1 teaching hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-l et seq.) that accepts State funding for graduate medical education programs 1[shall grant priority consideration to any written request made by the administration of an accredited State-supported medical school for placements in third and fourth year student clerkships at that hospital for students of that accredited State-supported medical school. Following receipt of such a request, a teaching hospital shall either, reduce, within one academic year, the number of third and fourth year clerkships provided to students enrolled in medical schools outside of the State as necessary to fulfill the request of the accredited State-supported medical school, or, 20 percent of the teaching hospital's Medicaid funding for graduate medical education programs shall be reallocated by the State to a teaching hospital that fulfills the request by the administration of an accredited State-supported medical school for placements for its students in third and fourth year student clerkships] shall impose a fee on a medical school for accepting a medical student at that school into a third or fourth year clerkship at the hospital pursuant to subsection b. of this section unless such fee reasonable and necessary1.
1[2.] 3.1 The 1[Commissioner of Human Services shall apply for such State plan amendments or waivers as are necessary to secure federal financial participation for State Medicaid expenditures under the federal Medicaid program. The Commissioner of Human Services, in consultation with the]1 Commissioner of Health shall prescribe such procedures and forms, and take such other actions, as the 1[commissioners determine] commissioner determines are1 necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
1[3.] 4.1 This act shall take effect on the first day of the State fiscal year next commencing after the date of enactment.
