AB 730: Public postsecondary education: University of California, Merced: medical education.

92607.

As used in this article, the following definitions apply:

(a) “SJVPP” means the San Joaquin Valley PRIME+.

(b) “UCM” means the University of California, Merced.

(c) “UCM Medical Education Collaborative” means the medical school at the UCM, which is a branch campus of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

(d) “UCSF” means the University of California, San Francisco.

92607.1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California’s supply of primary care physicians is below what is considered sufficient to meet patient needs.

(b) In the rapidly growing and ethnically diverse area of California’s San Joaquin Valley, the shortage of primary care physicians is particularly severe, with just 47 primary care physicians per 100,000 patients, which is far fewer than the recommended range of 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000 patients.

(c) LatinX, African Americans, and Native Americans are vastly underrepresented in the physician workforce.

(d) According to statistics published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, California lags substantially in the number of medical school students per capita, having just 21.1 students per 100,000 persons, compared to the United States average of 37.9 students per 100,000 persons. California ranks number 43 out of 46 states for medical student enrollment per capita.

(e) According to the California Health Care Foundation, 72 percent of California’s 58 counties have an undersupply of primary care physicians, with primary care physicians making up just 34 percent of California’s physician workforce.

(f) The UCM has launched the SJVPP bachelor of science degree to medical doctor degree pathway.

(g) In 2023, the inaugural class of SJVPP students entered the bachelor of science degree program at UCM. The first combined SJVPP class will enter medical school at the UCM Medical Education Collaborative in 2027, and graduate in 2031.

(h) To meet the health care needs of the patient population of the San Joaquin Valley, it is UCM’s long-term goal to develop an independent medical school. However, launching a medical school requires substantial time, financial support, faculty development, and a strong foundation of clinical partnerships for student rotations.

(i) The UCM Medical Education Collaborative allows UCM to immediately start training the future physicians that the San Joaquin Valley needs.

(j) In the meantime, the UCM Medical Education Collaborative will enable UCM to gain expertise in medical education, to begin hiring expert medical education faculty, to build clinical partnerships, and to start laying the foundation to someday increase class size and become an independent medical school.

(k) As a community-based medical school with a public mission to expand and diversify the San Joaquin Valley’s physician workforce and to improve the health of people living in the San Joaquin Valley, the UCM Medical Education Collaborative has made a commitment to underserved patient populations.

(l) There are two principal determinants of where a physician practices: (1) where the person grew up, and (2) where the person completes residency training following medical school graduation.

(m) The UCM Medical Education Collaborative has strategies to capitalize on both of the factors described in subdivision (l).

(n) The UCM Medical Education Collaborative’s strategies described in subdivision (m) include, but are not limited to, all of the following: (1) developing student pipeline programs, such as SJVPP, that inspire more young people in the San Joaquin Valley to pursue careers in medicine and other allied health professions and recruiting them to the UCM Medical Education Collaborative; (2) using a holistic review of medical school applicants that takes into account diverse life experiences in addition to academic performance; (3) teaching a curriculum that emphasizes key competencies for primary care medicine, including wellness and prevention, evidence-based medicine, and chronic disease management; (4) creating new residency training programs in primary care medicine and those short-supply specialties that are most needed in the San Joaquin Valley; and (5) continuing UCM’s commitment to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of talented students, faculty, and staff from historically excluded populations who are currently underrepresented in medical education and the practice of medicine.

92607.2.

On or before July 1, 2026, and each July 1 thereafter, the sum of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California for allocation to the UCM Medical Education Collaborative for purposes of this article.

92607.3.

As a condition of receiving an appropriation pursuant to Section 92607.2, the UCM Medical Education Collaborative shall develop a program, consistent with its mission, and in conjunction with the health facilities of its medical residency programs, to identify eligible medical residents and to assist those medical residents to apply for physician retention programs, including, but not limited to, the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program established pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 128550) of Chapter 5 of Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code.