BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2216 (Bonta) - Primary care residency programs: grant
program
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|Version: May 27, 2016 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 2216 would create a program for the Office of
Statewide Health Planning and Development to award grants to
teaching health centers to support primary care residency
programs.
Fiscal
Impact:
Ongoing administrative costs in the hundreds of thousands per
year for program oversight, grant application evaluations, and
monitoring of grants (Teaching Health Center Primary Care
Graduate Medical Education Fund). The Office of Health
Planning and Development indicates that the administrative
costs to operate the grant program are likely to be about
$600,000 per year, based on an assumed grant program of $2.4
million to $3.4 million per year. Depending on the ultimate
size of future appropriations for the grant program authorized
in the bill, the costs could be higher if there are a
significantly higher number of grant awardees.
AB 2216 (Bonta) Page 1 of
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Potential annual grant awards of $2.4 million per year to
sustain existing residency programs (Teaching Health Center
Primary Care Graduate Medical Education Fund). Under current
federal law, there is a program to provide federal funding for
additional medical residency positions (above those normally
funded through the federal Medicare program). Funding for
those residency positions is only authorized through 2017. The
Office anticipates the cost to continue support for those
existing residency positions will cost about $2.4 million per
year.
Unknown costs to provide funding to expand existing residency
programs and establish new residency training programs
(Teaching Health Center Primary Care Graduate Medical
Education Fund). The amount of funding that would be
appropriated by the Legislature in future years is unknown.
Traditionally, the federal government has provided about
$150,000 per medical residency position per year.
Background: Under current federal law, the Medicare program provides
funding to hospitals and other health facilities to subsidize
the cost of employing medical residents.
Under current law, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development operates several programs to provide financial
support to health professionals. These programs provide
scholarships, loan repayments, and financial support for medical
residency programs. Generally, these programs are designed to
provide financial support to individuals who agree to provide
care in medically underserved areas of the state. Funding for
these programs comes from additional assessments on health
professional license fees, fine and penalty revenues assessed on
health plans, the Mental Health Services Act, and other sources.
Proposed Law:
AB 2216 would create a program for the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development to award grants to teaching
health centers to support primary care medical residency
programs.
Specific provisions of the bill would:
AB 2216 (Bonta) Page 2 of
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Create the Teaching Health Center Primary Care Graduate
Medical Education Fund;
Require the Office, upon appropriation of the Legislature, to
award grants to teaching health centers to establish or expand
primary care residency positions;
Limit the grant awards to $500,000 per awardee and a term not
more than three years;
Specify the requirements for being awarded a grant;
Require the Office, upon appropriation of the Legislature, to
award sustaining grants to teaching health centers to support
existing residency positions;
Require the Office to promulgate emergency regulations to
implement the bill;
Make implementation of the bill subject to an appropriation in
the annual Budget Act.
Related
Legislation:
SB 22 (Roth) would appropriate $300 million from the General
Fund to support medical residency positions. That bill is
pending in the Assembly.
SB 1471 (Hernandez) would change the allocation of funds from
the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund that
are transferred each year to the Medically Underserved Account
for Physicians and the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund.
AB 2048 (Gray) would make all federally qualified health
centers eligible to participate in the National Health Service
Corps State Loan Repayment Program. The bill would authorize
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, upon
appropriation, to use state funds to provide federally
required matching funds. That bill will be heard in this
committee.
Staff
Comments: The recently enacted 2016-17 Budget Act includes
$33.3 million per year for three years from the General Fund to
support new and existing primary care residency positions.
(Funding will not be available for use until federal approval of
the state's hospital quality assurance fee has been granted,
likely in the spring of 2017.) However, that funding is
specifically appropriated to an existing grant program (the
Song-Brown Program) and the Office does not believe those funds
AB 2216 (Bonta) Page 3 of
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can be used for the implementation of this bill. The Song-Brown
program provides funding for new primary care residency
positions and those funds can be used for primary care residency
positions at teaching health centers.
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