The commission shall do all of the following:

(a) Identify specific areas of the state where unmet priority needs for primary care family physicians and registered nurses exist.

(b)  (1)  Establish standards for primary care and family medicine training programs, primary care and family medicine residency programs, postgraduate osteopathic medical programs in primary care or family medicine, and primary care physician assistants programs and programs that train primary care nurse practitioners, including appropriate provisions to encourage primary care physicians, family physicians, osteopathic family physicians, primary care physician’s assistants, and primary care nurse practitioners who receive training in accordance with this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) to provide needed services in areas of unmet need within the state. Standards for primary care and family medicine residency programs shall provide that all of the residency programs contracted for pursuant to this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) shall be approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Residency Review Committee for Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, or Obstetrics and Gynecology. Standards for postgraduate osteopathic medical programs in primary care and family medicine, as approved by the American Osteopathic Association Committee on Postdoctoral Training for interns and residents, shall be established to meet the requirements of this subdivision in order to ensure that those programs are comparable to the other programs specified in this subdivision. Every program shall include a component of training designed for medically underserved multicultural communities, lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, or rural communities, and shall be organized to prepare program graduates for service in those neighborhoods and communities. Medical schools receiving funds under this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) shall have programs or departments that recognize family medicine as a major independent specialty. Existence of a written agreement of affiliation or association between a hospital and an accredited medical school shall be regarded by the commission as a favorable factor in considering recommendations to the director for allocation of funds appropriated to the state medical contract program established under this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250). Teaching health centers receiving funds under this article shall have programs or departments that recognize family medicine as a major independent specialty.

(2)  For purposes of this subdivision, “primary care” and “family medicine” includes the general practice of medicine by osteopathic physicians.

(c) Establish standards for registered nurse training programs. The commission may accept those standards established by the Board of Registered Nursing.

(d) Review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concerning the funding of primary care and family medicine programs or departments and primary care and family medicine residencies and programs for the training of primary care physician assistants and primary care nurse practitioners that are submitted to the Healthcare Workforce Development Division for participation in the contract program established by this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250). If the commission determines that a program proposal that has been approved for funding or that is the recipient of funds under this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) does not meet the standards established by the commission, it shall submit to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development and the Legislature a report detailing its objections. The commission may request the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to make advance allocations for program development costs from amounts appropriated for the purposes of this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250).

(e) Review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concerning the funding of registered nurse training programs that are submitted to the Healthcare Workforce Development Division for participation in the contract program established by this article. If the commission determines that a program proposal that has been approved for funding or that is the recipient of funds under this article does not meet the standards established by the commission, it shall submit to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development and the Legislature a report detailing its objections. The commission may request the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to make advance allocations for program development costs from amounts appropriated for the purposes of this article.

(f) Establish contract criteria and single per-student and per-resident capitation formulas that shall determine the amounts to be transferred to institutions receiving contracts for the training of primary care and family medicine students and residents and primary care physician’s assistants and primary care nurse practitioners and registered nurses pursuant to this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250), except as otherwise provided in subdivision (d). Institutions applying for or in receipt of contracts pursuant to this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) may appeal to the director for waiver of these single capitation formulas. The director may grant the waiver in exceptional cases upon a clear showing by the institution that a waiver is essential to the institution’s ability to provide a program of a quality comparable to those provided by institutions that have not received waivers, taking into account the public interest in program cost-effectiveness. Recipients of funds appropriated by this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) shall, as a minimum, maintain the level of expenditure for family medicine or primary care physician’s assistant or family care nurse practitioner training that was provided by the recipients during the 1973–74 fiscal year. Recipients of funds appropriated for registered nurse training pursuant to this article shall, as a minimum, maintain the level of expenditure for registered nurse training that was provided by recipients during the 2004–05 fiscal year. Funds appropriated under this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) shall be used to develop new programs or to expand existing programs, and shall not replace funds supporting current family medicine or registered nurse training programs. Institutions applying for or in receipt of contracts pursuant to this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250) may appeal to the director for waiver of this maintenance of effort provision. The director may grant the waiver if he or she determines that there is reasonable and proper cause to grant the waiver.

(g)  (1)  Review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development concerning the funding of special programs that may be funded on other than a capitation rate basis. These special programs may include the development and funding of the training of primary health care teams of primary care and family medicine residents or primary care or family physicians and primary care physician assistants or primary care nurse practitioners or registered nurses, undergraduate medical education programs in primary care or family medicine, and programs that link training programs and medically underserved communities in California that appear likely to result in the location and retention of training program graduates in those communities. These special programs also may include the development phase of new primary care or family medicine residency, primary care physician assistant programs, primary care nurse practitioner programs, or registered nurse programs.

(2)  The commission shall establish standards and contract criteria for special programs recommended under this subdivision.

(h) Review and evaluate these programs regarding compliance with this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250). One standard for evaluation shall be the number of recipients who, after completing the program, actually go on to serve in areas of unmet priority for primary care or family physicians in California or registered nurses who go on to serve in areas of unmet priority for registered nurses.

(i) Review and make recommendations to the Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development on the awarding of funds for the purpose of making loan assumption payments for medical students who contractually agree to enter a primary care specialty and practice primary care medicine for a minimum of three consecutive years following completion of a primary care residency training program pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250).

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 31, Sec. 20. (SB 857) Effective June 20, 2014.)