HB 877

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to physician workforce assessment and
3	development; creating s. 381.4018, F.S.; providing
4	legislative intent; creating the Office of Physician
5	Workforce Assessment and Development within the Department
6	of Health; proving a purpose; providing functions of the
7	office; providing an effective date.
8
9	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11	Section 1.  Section 381.4018, Florida Statutes, is created
12	to read:
13	381.4018  Office of Physician Workforce Assessment and
14	Development.--
15	(1)  LEGISLATIVE INTENT.--The Legislature recognizes that
16	physician workforce planning is an essential component in
17	ensuring that there is an adequate and appropriate supply of
18	well-trained physicians to meet the state's future healthcare
19	service needs as both the general population and elderly
20	population of the state increase. The Legislature finds that
21	issues to consider relative to the assessment of physician
22	workforce need may include physician practice status; specialty
23	mix; geographic distribution; demographic information,
24	including, but not limited to, age, gender, race, and cultural
25	considerations; and meeting the needs of current or projected
26	medically underserved areas in the state. Long-term strategic
27	planning is essential, as the period of time from the time of
28	entering medical school to completion of graduate medical
29	education may range from 7 to 10 years, or longer. The
30	Legislature recognizes that strategies to provide for a well-
31	trained supply of physicians must include ensuring the
32	availability of quality medical schools and graduate medical
33	education capacity in the state as well as utilizing new or
34	existing state or federal programs that might provide incentives
35	for physicians to practice in needed specialties and in
36	underserved areas in a manner that addresses projected physician
37	manpower needs.
38	(2)  CREATION; PURPOSE.--The Office of Physician Workforce
39	Assessment and Development is created in the Department of
40	Health and shall serve as a coordinating and strategic planning
41	body to actively assess the state's current and future physician
42	workforce needs and shall work with multiple stakeholders to
43	develop strategies and alternatives to address the state's
44	current and projected physician workforce needs.
45	(3)  GENERAL FUNCTIONS.--The Office of Physician Workforce
46	Assessment and Development shall maximize the utilization of
47	existing programs under the jurisdiction of the department and
48	other state agencies; coordinate among governmental and
49	nongovernmental stakeholders and resources to determine a state
50	strategic plan; and assess implementation of such strategic plan
51	to:
52	(a)  Monitor, evaluate, and report on the supply and
53	distribution of physicians licensed under chapters 458 and 459.
54	The department shall maintain a database to serve as the
55	official statewide source of valid, objective, and reliable data
56	on the physician workforce.
57	(b)  Develop a model and quantify, on an ongoing basis, the
58	adequacy of the state's current and future physician workforce,
59	as reliable physician workforce data becomes available. Such
60	model shall consider the following factors: demographics,
61	physician practice status, place of education and training,
62	generational changes, population growth, economic indicators,
63	and issues relating to the channeling of students into medical
64	education.
65	(c)  Develop and recommend strategies to determine whether
66	availability of qualified state medical school applicants who
67	might become competent practicing physicians in the state will
68	be sufficient to meet medical school capacity of the state's
69	medical schools. If appropriate, the Office of Physician
70	Workforce Assessment and Development, working with
71	representatives of appropriate governmental and nongovernmental
72	entities, shall develop strategies and recommendations and
73	identify best-practice programs that introduce health care as a
74	profession and strengthen skills needed for medical school
75	admission for elementary, middle, and high school students, and
76	improve premedical education at the K-12 and college level to
77	increase the state's potential pool of medical students.
78	(d)  Assess strategies to ensure that graduates from the
79	state's public and private allopathic and osteopathic medical
80	schools are adequate to meet physician workforce needs, based on
81	the analysis of the physician workforce data, and strategies to
82	ensure that the state's medical schools are adequately funded to
83	provide a high quality medical education to students in a manner
84	that recognizes the uniqueness of each of the state's new and
85	existing medical schools.
86	(e)  Pursue strategies and policies to create, expand, and
87	maintain graduate medical education positions in the state,
88	based on the analysis of the physician workforce data. Such
89	strategies and policies shall consider the impact of federal
90	funding limitations on the expansion and creation of graduate
91	medical education positions and shall develop options to address
92	such federal funding limitations. Options to provide direct
93	state funding for graduate medical education positions shall be
94	considered in a manner that addresses requirements and needs
95	relative to accreditation of graduate medical education
96	programs. Funding for residency positions should be targeted to
97	address needed physician specialty areas, rural and physician
98	shortage areas, areas of ongoing critical need, and otherwise
99	address the physician workforce needs of the state, based on the
100	analysis of ongoing physician workforce data.
101	(f)  Develop strategies to maximize federal and state
102	programs that provide for the use of incentives to attract
103	physicians to the state or retain physicians in the state in
104	order to meet the state's physician workforce needs. Such
105	strategies should explore and maximize federal-state
106	partnerships available to provide for incentives for physicians
107	to practice in federally designated shortage areas. Strategies
108	shall also consider the use of state programs, such as the
109	Florida Health Service Corps established pursuant to s. 381.0302
110	and the Medical Education Reimbursement and Loan Repayment
111	Program pursuant to s. 1009.65, that provide for education loan
112	repayment or loan forgiveness to provide physicians monetary
113	incentives to relocate to underserved areas of the state.
114	(g)  Coordinate and enhance activities relative to
115	physician workforce needs, undergraduate medical education, and
116	graduate medical education provided by the Office of Medical
117	Quality Assurance, the Community Hospital Education Program and
118	Graduate Medical Education Committee established pursuant to s.
119	381.0403, the area health education center network established
120	pursuant to s. 381.0402, and other offices and programs within
121	the Department of Health as deemed by the secretary.
122	(h)  Work in conjunction with and act as a coordinating
123	body for governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders to
124	address matters relating to the state's physician workforce
125	assessment and development for the purpose of ensuring an
126	adequate supply of well-trained physicians to meet the state's
127	future needs. Such governmental stakeholders shall include, but
128	may not be limited to, the secretaries or designees of the
129	Department of Health, Department of Education, and Agency for
130	Healthcare Administration, the Chancellor or designee of the
131	Board of Governors, and, at the discretion of the department,
132	other representatives of state and local agencies involved in
133	the assessment, education, training, or provision of the state's
134	current or future physician workforce. Other stakeholders shall
135	include, but may not be limited to, organizations representing
136	the state's public and private allopathic and osteopathic
137	medical schools; organizations representing hospitals and other
138	healthcare-providing institutions, particularly those that
139	currently provide or have an interest in providing accredited
140	medical education and graduate medical education to medical
141	students and medical residents in the state; organizations
142	representing allopathic and osteopathic practicing physicians;
143	and, at the discretion of the department, representatives of
144	other organizations or entities involved in the assessment,
145	education, training, or provision of the state's current or
146	future physician workforce.
147	(i)  Serve as a state liaison with other states and federal
148	agencies and programs to enhance resources available to the
149	state's physician workforce and medical education continuum.
150	(j)  Act as a clearinghouse for collecting and
151	disseminating information of physician workforce and medical
152	education continuum issues in the state.
153	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.