Health care workforce training programs: geriatric medicine.

Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in the California Health and Human Services Agency, which oversees various scholarship programs to improve access to health care, including the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, which provides for the repayment of educational loans obtained by a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area of the state. Existing law requires the office to maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program tasked with supporting and encouraging minority health professionals in training to practice in health professional shortage areas of California, among other duties. Existing law provides that in administering the National Health Service Corps State Loan Repayment Program in accordance with federal law and regulations, the office is required to strive, whenever feasible, to equitably distribute loan repayment awards between eligible urban and rural program sites, after taking into account the availability of health care services in the communities to be served and the number of individuals to be served in each program site. This bill would require the office to include students and professionals with training in geriatrics in administering the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program, National Health Service Corps State Loan Repayment Program, and the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to provide geriatricians practicing in underserved areas access to existing loan repayment programs offered by the state, encouraging more geriatric care providers to practice in federally designated health provider shortage areas and addressing the state's shortage of geriatricians.