Health professions development: loan repayment.

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, including repayment of educational loans, to a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area, as defined, and who is trained in, and practices, in certain practice settings or primary specialities, as defined. Existing law authorizes the selection committee to fill up to 20% of the available positions with program applicants from specialities outside of the primary specialties, including psychiatry. Existing law establishes the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, a continuously appropriated account, within the Health Professions Education Fund that is managed by the Health Professions Education Foundation and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, to primarily provide funding for the ongoing operations of the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and imposes certain requirements on health care service plans. Existing law imposes various fines and administrative penalties on health care service plans for certain violations of the act, which are deposited into the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund. Existing law requires the first $1,000,000 in the fund to be transferred each year to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians and to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. Existing law requires all remaining funds to be transferred each year to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund and to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. The bill would instead require, after the first $1,000,000 is transferred from the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians, $1,000,000 to be transferred each year to the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. The bill would require any amount remaining over the amounts transferred to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians and the Major Risk Medical Insurance Fund to be transferred each year to the Medically Underserved Account for Physicians to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, and provide that one-half of these moneys may be prioritized to fund the repayment of loans for those program applicants who are trained in, and practice, psychiatry, under the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. The bill would also delete a reference to an obsolete program and make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.