AB 2539: California Physician Corps Program: practice setting.

Existing law establishes the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program (program) in the California Physician Corps Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation, which provides financial incentives, including repayment of educational loans, to a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area, as defined. Existing law establishes the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, a continuously appropriated account, within the Health Professions Education Fund, to primarily provide funding for the ongoing operations of the program. Existing law requires the foundation and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to develop guidelines using specified criteria for selection and placement of applicants.

Existing law defines practice setting, for these purposes, to include a community clinic, as defined, a clinic owned or operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with a county government to fulfill the countys role to serve its indigent population, that is located in a medically underserved area and at least 50% of whose patients are from a medically underserved population. Existing law also defines practice setting, for these purposes, to include a physician owned and operated medical practice setting that provides primary care located in a medically underserved area and has a minimum of 50% of patients who are uninsured, Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or beneficiaries of another publicly funded program that serves patients who earn less than 250% of the federal poverty level.

This bill would instead require, for purposes of this definition, only until January 1, 2021, and only for program participants who enroll in the program on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2021, that the clinic or the physician owned and operated medical practice setting have at least 30% of patients, if the area is a rural area, as defined, or at least 50% of patients, if the area is not a rural area, who are from the above-described populations. By expanding the authorization for the use of moneys in the continuously appropriated Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, this bill would make an appropriation.

The bill would require the foundation to prepare a study to determine the effect that the revised definition has on funding for loan repayment granted under the program during the calendar years 2019 and 2020. The bill would require the foundation to submit 2 reports of the study by March 1, 2020, and March 1, 2021, respectively, including program data for certain years and identifying specified information.

The bill would appropriate $120,000 from the General Fund to the office to amend regulations, as applicable, to provide technical assistance to the increased number of program applicants, and to prepare the above-described study and reports, for the purpose of implementing this bill.

The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.