California Physician Corps Program.

Existing law establishes the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program in the California Physician Corps Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation, which provides financial incentives, as specified, to a physician and surgeon for practicing in a medically underserved community. Existing law authorizes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to adopt guidelines by regulation and requires the foundation to use guidelines for selection and placement of program applicants. These guidelines provide priority consideration to applicants who meet specified criteria, including that the applicant has 3 years of experience working in medically underserved areas or with medically underserved populations. The guidelines also must seek to place the most qualified applicants in the areas with the greatest need. This bill would delete the requirement that the guidelines seek to place the most qualified applicants in the areas of greatest need. The bill would require the guidelines for the selection and placement of program applicants to include criteria that would give priority consideration to program applicants who have 3 years of experience providing health care services to medically underserved populations or in a medically underserved area, as defined. The bill would require the guidelines to give priority to applicants who agree to practice in those areas and serve a medically underserved population, and would require the guidelines to give priority consideration to applicants from rural communities who agree to practice in a physician owned and operated medical practice setting, as defined. Existing law requires the foundation, in consultation with the Medical Board of California, Office of Statewide Planning and Development, and an advisory committee, to use guidelines developed by the Medical Board of California for selection and placement of applicants until the office adopts other guidelines by regulation. This bill would instead require the foundation and the office to develop guidelines using specified criteria for selection and placement of applicants. Existing law defines "practice setting," for these purposes, to include a community clinic, as defined, a clinic owned and operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with a county government to fulfill the county's role to serve its indigent population and that is located in a medically underserved area and has at least 50% of its patients from that population. Existing law also defines "practice setting," for these purposes, to include a medical practice located in a medically underserved area and at least 50% of whose patients are from a medically underserved population. This bill would delete the latter definition and instead include a physician owned and operated medical practice setting that provides primary care located in a medically underserved area and has a minimum of 50% of patients who are uninsured, Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or beneficiaries of another publicly funded program that serves patients who earn less than 250% of the federal poverty level, within this definition of "practice setting."