BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SJR 7
          Author:   Pan (D)
          Introduced:3/19/15  
          Vote:     21  

           SUBJECT:   Medical residency programs


          SOURCE:    California Academy of Family Physicians 
                     California Medical Association


          DIGEST:  This resolution urges the Congress and the President of  
          the United States to renew funding for the Health Resources and  
          Services Administration's Teaching Health Center and Primary  
          Care Residency Expansion Graduate Medical Education Programs,  
          and to lift the freeze on residency positions funded by Medicare  
          to expand physician supply and improve access to health care.


          ANALYSIS:   This resolution makes the following legislative  
          findings:


          1.According to a 2014 report by the California Healthcare  
            Foundation, although California has more than 105,000 licensed  
            physicians, only 71,000 are actively involved in providing  
            patient care.


          2.Federal funding levels for residency training programs have  
            been frozen since 1997, while California's population has  
            increased by more than 10% since that time.










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          3.Medicare's rigid payment formulas for Graduate Medical  
            Education do not allow for the innovation needed to improve  
            medical education to produce physicians with the appropriate  
            training needed to meet the nation's current and future health  
            care needs.


          4.Many primary care physicians, including those who have  
            graduated from California medical schools, want to train in  
            California, but are forced to leave the state because of the  
            shortage in training slots at residency programs.  California  
            has been able to address only a minimal portion of primary  
            care residency programs' funding shortfall with state funds.


          5.Increasing funding for primary care medical residency training  
            programs is a critical step in addressing the physician  
            shortage problem and improving access to medical care.


          This resolution urges the Congress and the President of the  
          United States to renew funding for the Health Resources and  
          Services Administration's Teaching Health Center and Primary  
          Care Residency Expansion Graduate Medical Education Programs  
          that are set to expire this year; to lift the freeze on  
          residency positions funded by Medicare to expand physician  
          supply and improve access to care; and to encourage the  
          development of primary care physician training programs in  
          ambulatory, community, and medically underserved sites through  
          new funding methodologies and incentives.


          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified3/24/15)


          California Academy of Family Physicians (co-source)
          California Medical Association (co-source)









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          OPPOSITION:   (Verified3/24/15)


          None received



          
          Prepared by:Karen Chow / SFA / (916) 651-1520
          3/25/15 17:37:58


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