Bill > H2198

This bill aims to improve access to family physicians by making several changes to the requirements of certain healthcare applicants and trainees in Massachusetts. The key provisions of the bill are: 1. It expands the definition of "primary care" to include "family medicine" in the state's health care workforce center program. 2. It adds "family physicians" alongside "primary care providers" as the focus of the program. 3. It increases the minimum percentage of program funding that must be allocated to primary care and family medicine residents from 50% to 95%. 4. It requires the health care workforce center to give preference to applicants with a proven record of placing graduates in areas of unmet need, attracting underrepresented minorities and/or economically disadvantaged groups, or hosting programs and/or clinical training sites in areas of unmet need. 5. It changes the residency program duration from 9-12 months to 3-4 years. 6. It requires all resident trainees to be assigned as the primary care provider for a continuity panel of patients and see those patients for at least 40 weeks per academic year for each year of the residency. 7. It mandates that grant amounts per resident be no less than 85% of the average CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) annual reimbursement rate per year and that funding be provided for the full 3-4 year residency.

Health and Social Services

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H2198