BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1533
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1533 (Mitchell) - As Amended: March 21, 2012
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill allows the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
medical school to, until 2019, provide hands-on clinical
training to international medical graduates (IMGs) who are
otherwise not allowed to engage in patient care activities.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible state fiscal impact. The IMG program at UCLA is
already in existence and is currently funded by private sources.
This bill affects the content of the training UCLA can
provide to IMGs, but it does not expand or impact funding for
the program, or have a significant impact on physician supply or
access to health care.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The Medical Board of California and the University
of California, co-sponsors of this legislation, state that
current law does not allow well-prepared graduates of
international medical schools to engage in hands-on clinical
training as part of their course of study. Under current law,
this type of training can be offered to both medical students
and to medical residents, but IMGs do not fit in either of
these categories, since they have already graduated from
medical school in their country but are not yet medical
residents. The sponsors indicate that obtaining a residency
slot in California is extremely competitive, and that a lack
of hands-on training in a U.S. practice setting puts otherwise
well-prepared bilingual IMGs at a disadvantage when competing
for a California slot in the National Residency Match Program.
AB 1533
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2)Background . To become a medical doctor in California, an
individual must complete the following basic steps: (1)
graduate from a medical school recognized by the state Medical
Board, (2) pass the United States Medical Licensing Exam
(USMLE) Steps 1 through 3, (3) obtain a residency slot and
complete a residency training program, and (4) become licensed
by the state Medical Board.
The UCLA IMG program recruits bilingual English/Spanish IMGs
and offers them comprehensive training designed to help them
pass the first two steps of the USMLE, and to prepare them to
compete for a California residency training program intern
position in family medicine. The objective of the UCLA IMG
program is to increase the number of bilingual and bicultural
Hispanic family physicians practicing primary care in
underserved communities, in California in order to address a
shortage of such physicians. Upon completion of their
residency, IMG graduates are also obligated to serve for 18-36
months in an underserved community in California.
Currently, IMGs in the program are not allowed to examine
patients on their own without faculty supervision, and they
are required to function as observers. Removing this barrier
will allow the program to improve the effectiveness of its
clinical training for IMGs. At this time, the program at UCLA
is unique statewide, and has placed more than 30 individuals
into residencies in California.
3)Previous Legislation . AB 2260 (Negrete McLeod) Chapter 565,
Statutes of 2006, clarifies the requirements for unlicensed
foreign doctors to practice medicine in fellowship, faculty,
or department head or division chief capacity in a California
medical school.
AB 1045 (Firebaugh) Chapter 1157, Statutes of 2002,
establishes the Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico
Pilot Program to allow up to 30 licensed physicians and up to
30 licensed dentists from Mexico to practice medicine or
dentistry in California for up to three years, and establishes
a separate pilot program for IMGs. According to the Medical
Board, AB 1045 was never implemented because private
philanthropic funding was not available to support
implementation as required by law.
AB 1533
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Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081