BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 27
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 27 (Medina)
As Amended May 24, 2013
2/3 vote. Urgency
HIGHER EDUCATION 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1
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|Ayes:|Williams, Ch�vez, Bloom, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bocanegra, |
| |Fox, Jones-Sawyer, | |Bradford, Ian Calderon, |
| |Levine, Linder, Medina, | |Campos, Donnelly, Eggman, |
| |Hagman, Quirk-Silva, | |Gomez, Hall, Ammiano, |
| |Weber, Wilk | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Wagner, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Bigelow |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Appropriates $15 million annually from the General Fund
(GF) to the Regents of the University of California (UC) for
allocation to the School of Medicine at the University of
California, Riverside (UCR); places expenditure control methods on
the funds for the sole purpose of being used for the School of
Medicine at UCR; and, adds reporting requirements, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that the UC Regents shall use the money appropriated by
this act for the sole purpose of funding the School of Medicine at
UCR and that it cannot be used to supplant other funding of the
Regents for the School of Medicine at UCR.
2)Specifies that funds provided shall be available for planning and
startup costs associated with academic programs to be offered by
the School of Medicine at UCR, including all of the following:
a) Academic planning activities, support of academic program
offerings, and faculty recruitment;
b) Acquisition of instructional materials and equipment; and,
c) Ongoing operating support for faculty, staff, and other
annual operating expenses for the School of Medicine at UCR.
3)Specifies the School of Medicine at UCR shall develop a program,
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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 apply for
physician retention programs, including, but not limited to, the
Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.
4)Requires, on or before April 1 of each year, that the UC shall
provide progress reports to the relevant policy and fiscal
committees of the Legislature pertaining to funding, recruitment,
hiring, and outcomes for the School of Medicine at UCR and
specifies that the report shall include, but not be limited to,
information consistent with the published mission and vision for
the School of Medicine at UCR in the following areas:
a) The number of students who have applied, been admitted, or
been enrolled, broken out by race, ethnicity, and gender;
b) The number of full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and
administration, broken out by race, ethnicity, and gender;
c) Funding and progress of ongoing medical education pipeline
programs, including the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in
Biomedical Sciences;
d) Operating and capital budgets, including detail by fund
source, and an explanation of how such funding affects base
funding for other university purposes. The operating budget
shall include a breakdown of research activities, instruction
costs, administration, and executive management;
e) Efforts to meet the health care delivery needs of California
and the Inland Empire of the state, including, but not limited
to, the percentage of clinical placements, graduate medical
education slots, and medical school graduates in primary care
specialties who are providing service within California's
medically underserved areas and populations; and,
f) A description of faculty research activities, including
information regarding the diversity of doctoral candidates, and
identifying activities that focus on high priority research
needs with respect to addressing California's medically
underserved areas and populations.
5)Lists a variety of legislative findings and declarations.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
costs for this measure would be an annual $15 million GF
appropriation for the medical school, which would become part of
UC's base budget.
COMMENTS : This measure has an urgency clause allowing the bill to
take effect immediately upon enactment.
The foundation of the School of Medicine at UCR dates to 1974, when
the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences was
established. This program has enabled approximately 700 students to
complete their first two years of medical school at UCR and their
last two years at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, which
confers their medical degrees.
Timeline of events. In May 2006, UCR proposed to establish an
independent four-year School of Medicine that would serve the
medically underserved in the Inland Empire. In July 2008, the UC
Board of Regents officially approved establishment of a School of
Medicine at UCR, which paved the road for the state's first new
public medical school in more than four decades. In the summer of
2011, UCR failed to gain accreditation for an independent four-year
medical school from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education
(LCME), the national accrediting body for educational programs
leading to the Medical Doctor degree in the United States and
Canadian medical schools. LCME withheld preliminary accreditation
due to a lack of recurring state funding support for the school.
In April 2012, after securing substantial new funding from a variety
of non-state funding sources, UCR submitted a second accreditation
application. In June 2012, a second accreditation site visit took
place and in October 2012, UCR received notification that its
planned medical school received "preliminary accreditation."
Preliminary accreditation from LCME enables prospective students to
begin applying to the UCR School of Medicine in order to potentially
enroll in the inaugural class in August 2013.
According to the author, "Studies show that the highest indicator of
where a physician practices is where he or she attends medical
school. The region [Inland Empire] trails behind much of the state
in several key health indicators, including coronary heart disease
and diabetes." The establishment of a medical school in the Inland
Empire will help to ensure more physicians are trained and remain in
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the Inland Empire. The author contends that one of the areas that
will aid in the UCR School of Medicine receiving final accreditation
from LCME and meeting the medical needs of the Inland Empire is for
the school to receive a steady funding source; this bill seeks to
fulfill that need.
According the Public Policy Institute of California, the Inland
Empire is the fastest-growing region of the state. The Inland
Empire of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have a population
larger than the State of Oregon. With the expectation of the
Affordable Care Act to be fully implemented in 2014, it is estimated
that more than 300,000 residents of the Inland Empire will have
health insurance coverage extended to them. However, the coverage
does not necessarily translate into care.
The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in 2015
the country will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed; that number
will more than double by 2025 as the expansion of insurance coverage
and the aging of the baby boomers drive up the demand for care. In
the Inland Empire, the shortage of doctors is already severe. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Council on Graduate
Medical Education recommends that a given region have 60 to 80
primary care physicians per 100,000 residents and 85 to 105
specialists. The Inland Empire has about 40 primary care doctors
and 70 specialists per 100,000 residents - the worst shortage in
California, in both cases.
According to the California State Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development, the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps
Loan Repayment Program encourages recently licensed physicians to
practice in Health Professional Shortage Areas in California. The
program authorizes a plan for repaying up to $105,000 in educational
loans in exchange for full-time service for a minimum of three
years.
The UCR School of Medicine plans to enroll its first students in
August 2013, and is planning a number of policies to encourage its
graduates to remain in the Inland Empire and practice primary care
medicine.
Related legislation: SB 21 (Roth), pending in the Senate, is
identical to this bill.
Several budget bills in the last few years initially contained
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funding for the UCR School of Medicine but failed to secure passage.
Most recently, AB 1309 (Miller) of 2012 would have appropriated $15
million of an expected settlement to the UC for the UCR School of
Medicine. This measure was held on the Suspense File in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000869