SB 1041: Physician assistants: licensure: Armenian medical graduate physician assistants.

Existing law, the Physician Assistant Practice Act, establishes the Physician Assistant Board to license and regulate physician assistants. Existing law requires the board to issue a license to practice as a physician assistant to an applicant who satisfies specified requirements, including successfully completing an approved program and passing a prescribed examination. Existing law also authorizes the board to issue a probationary license to an applicant in accordance with specified terms and conditions. Existing law makes a violation of certain provisions of the act a misdemeanor.

This bill would establish the Armenian Doctor Pilot Program, to be operative from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2027, inclusive. Under the pilot program, up to 15 doctors who graduated from Yerevan State Medical University and have attained their medical degree and medical license in Armenia but have not practiced medicine in California within the 10 years preceding the operative date of the pilot program would be eligible to participate in the program. The bill would require participants in the program to be enrolled in a medical refresher course developed by Yerevan State Medical University and an accredited academic institution in California with an approved physician assistant program, which would be subject to approval by the board. The bill would require classes to be provided by Yerevan State Medical University and the approved California educational institution via a distance learning program. The bill would require the refresher course to include clinical training undertaken in a federally qualified health center that serves the Armenian community in southern California. The bill would require the board to issue a license to practice as a physician assistant in a federally qualified health center for 2 years to a participant who satisfies the requirements set forth in the bill. The bill, beginning April 1, 2025, would require federally qualified health centers to begin assessing the work of the participants of the pilot program. The bill would require the assessments to be submitted to the board, and would require the board to review the findings and discuss the future of the pilot program. The bill would repeal the pilot program on January 1, 2027. Medical Graduate Physician Assistant Training Program, to be conducted at an appropriate educational institution or institutions. The bill would require the board to establish a Training Program Advisory Task Force, which the bill would require to develop and recommend curriculum for a training program. The bill would make an Armenian medical graduate who is either a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and who has satisfactorily completed the training program eligible for licensure as a physician assistant if the person has also successfully completed a certain written examination. The bill would require that funding necessary for the implementation of the program to be secured from nonprofit philanthropic entities, as specified.

Because the bill would expand the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.