BILL REQ. #:  H-2793.1 

Prefiled 12/05/13. Read first time 01/13/14.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to family practice residencies; amending RCW 70.112.020; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature recognizes there is a severe shortage of family medicine physicians that persists in rural and underserved areas of the state, and that there are challenges in recruiting and retaining family practice physicians, in addition to other health care providers in these areas.
     (2) The legislature acknowledges that one factor limiting the ability to recruit physicians is the lack of residencies available in the state and in certain rural and underserved areas.
     (3) The legislature recognizes that partnerships between the University of Washington school of medicine and licensed hospitals or medical clinics willing to sponsor residencies will support the development and expansion of and expanding access to family medicine residencies in rural and underserved areas such as southeastern Washington, and throughout the state.

Sec. 2   RCW 70.112.020 and 2012 c 117 s 426 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) There is established a statewide medical education system for the purpose of training resident physicians in family practice. The dean of the school of medicine shall be responsible for implementing the development and expansion of residency programs in cooperation with the medical profession, hospitals, and clinics located throughout the state. The chair of the department of family medicine in the school of medicine shall ((determine where affiliated residency programs shall exist)) support development of high quality accredited affiliated residency programs; giving consideration to communities in the state where the population, hospital facilities, number of physicians, and interest in medical education indicate the potential success of the residency program. The medical education system shall provide financial support for residents in training for those programs which are affiliated with the school of medicine and shall establish positions for appropriate faculty to staff these programs. The number of programs shall be determined by the board and be in keeping with the needs of the state.
     (2) For the purpose of recruiting and retaining primary care physicians in rural communities in southeastern Washington and in other rural and underserved areas of the state, and aligned with subsection (1) of this section, the dean of the school of medicine shall support the development of residency training programs in southeastern Washington in partnership with a qualified hospital licensed in the state that is willing to sponsor primary care training.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The sum of six million six hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, from the general fund to the University of Washington school of medicine. Of the amount appropriated in this section, four million dollars is for the purpose of expanding family medicine residencies in southeastern Washington and two million six hundred thousand dollars is for the purpose of expanding family medicine residencies throughout the state.