Today's Law As Amended


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SB-1023 Health care: health workforce education and training.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Our nation, along with the rest of the world, is currently experiencing the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future pandemics are not merely possible, but likely, and California is acutely at risk for these events due to the state’s global travel hubs and metropolitan population. Patients must have access to culturally competent care that they can trust, and that understands their experience and limitations.
(b) As of 2015, the majority of California’s population has been made up of minority groups, with Latinos now estimated at over 39 percent of the total population, according to the United States Census Bureau.
(c) With the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), minority groups, already disproportionately affected by longstanding social and health inequities, including discrimination and limited access to quality services in health care, housing, and employment, resulting in higher rates of underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, heart conditions, or obesity, are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
(d) The State Department of Public Health has reported that Latinos make up nearly 60 percent of all COVID-19 cases, and 49 percent of deaths, while African Americans, comprising only 6 percent of the state population, make up over 7 percent of deaths. Therefore, it is now critical that efforts to increase access to care are driven by efforts to increase the number of diverse physicians entering the practice.

SEC. 2.

 Section 128216 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

128216.
 (a) (1) The council shall prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, setting forth findings and recommendations related to all of the following:
(A) How to promote higher enrollment for Californians from geographically and culturally diverse communities into medical schools.
(B) How to prepare and assist students from low-income communities.
(C) How to expand the number of health personnel, particularly in low-income communities.
(D) How to improve training of health personnel in low-income communities.
(E) What are the components of training and education transformation as tenets of public health and prevention.
(F) How communities may adapt training more closely to the needs of local health care systems.
(G) How to operationalize concerns and improve the quality and safety of health care delivery.
(2) Before submitting the report, the council shall host a commenting period for advocates and the public to weigh in on the findings and recommendations.
(3) The council shall post the report on the internet website of the Department of Health Care Access and Information and hold informational hearings online regarding its findings and recommendations.
(b) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2027, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.