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SPONSOR |
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DATE TYPED |
|
HB |
|
||
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SHORT
TITLE |
Medical Board Time Requirement Adoption |
SB |
465 |
||||
|
|
ANALYST |
Geisler |
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REVENUE
|
Estimated Revenue |
Subsequent Years Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
|
|
FY04 |
FY05 |
|||
|
|
2.0 |
2.0 |
Recurring |
Other
State Funds |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)
Medical Board
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
SB 465 makes a minor amendment to the Medical
Practice Act which allows the Medical Board to adopt a rule to allow exceptions
to the requirement that all three steps parts of the medical
licensing examination be passed
within 7 years of the date the first part was passed.
Significant Issues
The Medical Board provides that the current law
prohibits the board from licensing any applicant who did not pass the three
steps of the USMLE (US Medical Licensing Exam) within 7 years. The USMLE is a single examination with three
“steps.” Each step is complementary to
the others and no step can stand alone in the assessment of qualification for
medical licensure. Step 1 assesses the
understanding of basic sciences and is generally taken after the second year of
medical education. Step 2 assesses the applicant’s
knowledge and understanding of those clinical sciences considered essential for
the provision of patient care under supervision. This step is generally taken at the end of
the fourth year of education prior to their internship. Step 3 assesses whether the physician can
apply the medical knowledge considered essential for the unsupervised practice
of medicine and is generally taken after 1-2 years of postgraduate (residency)
training.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
By adopting a rule to provide for an exception
to the existing 7 year limit, the Medical Board expects
the board will license between 5 and 15 additional applicants each year. This will increase revenue slightly and this
revenue will be recurring if these physicians maintain licensure in NM and as
new physicians continue to apply under the new provisions.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The Medical Board states that over the years the Board has had to reject qualified applicants who did not take Step 3 within the 7 years allowed. These have been qualified applicants who have gotten involved in their residency programs and, generally through an oversight, do not take the exam or do not realize there is a time limit. This is an issue nationally and at recent conferences the discussion has been that the 7 years is quite arbitrary. It is probably more important to restrict the number of attempts (which is done by rule, to 6 attempts at each part of the exam). Several states do not use the 7-year rule, while many others can make exceptions. The Board does have specific exemption authority in Section 61-6-13,C of the Act, but it is very restrictive and requires that the applicant hold a license in another state. It is anticipated the rule will be written very similar to the current exception in the law, but allow the Board to issue an initial license to a physician who is just completing an extended residency program and does not hold a license in another state.
ALTERNATIVES
Per the Medical Board, an alternative is to revise
the reference in the existing law to the 7-year rule. However, a change of this magnitude requires
additional study and should be postponed until further
research is completed.
WHAT
WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL?
The
Medical Board states that without this amendment to the Medical Practice Act
qualified applicants will move to states such as
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