Budget Amendment ID: FY2018-S3-482

EHS 482

Primary Care Workforce

Mr. Lesser moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2, by inserting after item 4510-0108 the following item:-

“xxxx-xxxx For a competitive grant program to be administered by the department of public health to support primary care and family medicine residency programs for the purpose of financing the training of primary care providers and family physicians at teaching community health centers. Eligible applicants shall include teaching community health centers accredited through affiliations with a commonwealth-funded medical school or licensed as part of a teaching hospital with a residency program in family medicine and teaching health centers that are the independently accredited sponsoring organization for the residency program and whose residents are employed by the health center. Eligible residency programs shall be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

To receive funding, an applicant shall: (1) include a review of recent graduates of the community health center's residency program, including information regarding what type of practice said graduates are involved in 2 years following graduation from the residency program; and (2) achieve a threshold of at least 95 per cent for the percentage of graduates practicing primary care within 2 years after graduation. Graduates practicing more than 50 per cent inpatient care or more than 50 per cent specialty care as listed in the American Medical Association Masterfile shall not qualify as graduates practicing primary care.

The department shall require applicants to include the following information and give preference to those applicants whom meet at least one of the following criteria: (1) Have a proven record of placing graduates in areas of unmet need; (2) Have a record or written plan of attracting and admitting underrepresented minorities and/or economically disadvantaged groups; or (3) host their programs and/or clinical training sites in areas of unmet need.

Awardees of the primary care residency grant program shall offer a 3 to 4 year residency program and maintain their teaching accreditation as either an independent teaching community health center or as a teaching community health center accredited through affiliation with a commonwealth-funded medical school or licensed as part of a teaching hospital. All resident trainees shall be assigned as the primary care provider of a continuity panel of patients and see those patients in that location no less than 40 weeks per academic year for each of the years of the residency……………$750,000"