HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1548
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION.

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that many Hawaii residents are unable to obtain timely and appropriate health care due to shortages of health care providers in the State. These shortages threaten individual health and cumulatively adversely affect the State's health care costs. The State's neighbor islands, which have been designated by the federal government as medically underserved areas, have been disproportionately adversely affected by shortages of physicians in all areas of practice. The John A. Burns school of medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has engaged in strategies to increase the number of physicians in Hawaii by enrolling more students; rotating medical students to the neighbor islands for preclinical, up to twelve-week, rotations; developing longitudinal third-year rotation sites where a small number of students are in the same location for five months; developing a small number of sites for four-week fourth year clinical rotations; developing residency or fellowship rotations; and administering the Hawaii state loan repayment program that places recipients in medically underserved communities, especially the neighbor islands, among other endeavors.

The legislature further finds that, according to the most recent data from the Hawaii physician workforce assessment project, the State has a shortage of five hundred thirty-seven full-time equivalent physicians. However, when island geography and unmet specialty-specific needs by county are examined, the estimated unmet need for full-time physicians increases to seven hundred thirty-two. Primary care, internal medicine, and some specialty physician shortages represent Hawaii's greatest area of need. Without these physicians, the people of Hawaii do not have access to the health care they need. At the John A. Burns school of medicine, eighty per cent of graduates who complete their medical school and residency training, also known as their graduate medical education, in the State remain in Hawaii to practice.

The legislature also finds that there is strong collaboration between the John A. Burns school of medicine and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The Department of Veterans Affairs currently invests in Hawaii-based residency positions using a separate federal pool of support. With additional faculty members, the capacity to train additional Hawaii-based residents through the Department of Veterans Affairs graduate medical education programs will enable the John A. Burns school of medicine to expand the number of residency rotations and create new training opportunities.

In Hawaii, graduate medical education costs are largely borne by the University of Hawaii and its affiliated health systems. Although some federal dollars have been used by the health systems to cover a portion of graduate medical education costs, the State can invest and expand medical school and residency training using newly available funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, P.L. 117-2.

The legislature also recognizes the beneficial public outcomes that can be achieved by expanding capacity for training medical students and residents through the Department of Veterans Affairs, including the recruitment of additional practicing faculty to Veterans Affairs health care facilities in the State, which will leverage health care delivery capacity and the retention of medical students and residents as practicing physicians in Hawaii.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii John A. Burns school of medicine to expand medical school and residency training through the Department of Veterans Affairs graduate medical education programs.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for the expansion of medical school and residency training through the Department of Veterans Affairs graduate medical education programs.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the John A. Burns school of medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.

Report Title:

John A. Burns School of Medicine; Department of Veterans Affairs; Medical School and Residency Training; Graduate Medical Education; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds to the John A. Burns School of Medicine to expand medical school and residency training through the Department of Veterans Affairs graduate medical education programs. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD1)

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.