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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Sanchez, B.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/24/08

HB

SHORT TITLE UNM Health Careers Pathway

SB 175

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$415.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relationship

Senate Bill 175 is related Senate Bill 14, Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 158

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

University of New Mexico (UNM)

Department of Health (DOH)

New Mexico Health Policy Commission (HPC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 175 appropriates $415.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the

University of New Mexico to provide funding for the Health Sciences Center to encourage

underrepresented students and retain them in the health sciences field and health professions.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $415.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

This request was not submitted to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for review and

is not included in the Department’s legislative recommendation for FY09.

Senate Bill 175 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to the HED, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center has a major

initiative entitled Healthy Communities. This initiative is comprised of a number of components

one of which is Health Career Pathways. Per information from UNM-HSC administration, this

program is coordinated through the Office of Diversity. The focus of the Health Career Pathways

is to build diversity in the health sciences field and health professions. The program is intended

to help students develop the skills they need to successfully compete for admission to and

graduation from health professions programs.

UNM states:

Historically these programs have been funded under Title VII; however, due to drastic

cuts in Title VII, these monies are no longer available. Partnerships have been developed

and fostered over many years. The School of Medicine has partially funded these

programs in order to help meet our health professions shortages and show a commitment

to our partners but at markedly reduced numbers of participants.

A wide range of programs are offered from middle school through post baccalaureate and

pre-professional. These programs include:

•

middle school (Dream Makers) after-school, hands-on programs to interest

students in the health careers and let them see some of the professions they can

aspire to;

•

ACT and health careers exposure high school (Health Careers Academy)

programs;

•

residential academic preparation and health careers exposure programs for

entering freshman (Undergraduate Health Sciences Enrichment Programs) from

across NM in order for students to experience a college campus environment;

•

medical school entrance exam prepatory course and professional

training/exposure programs for college and post graduate students (Medical

School Preparation Program), 6 week rural immersion clinical opportunity for

pre-med, pre-PT, and pre-pharmacy students (Clinical Education);

•

a post baccalaureate pharmacy program (Pathways to Pharmacy ), as well as a

preparatory program (Pre-Medical Enrichment/PrEP) within the medical school -

both with conditional acceptance to the respective professional schools upon

successful completion of the programs;

•

multidisciplinary (Rural Health Interdisciplinary Programs) for disciplines within

the HSC, teaching students the importance of interdisciplinary work, and

including a rural site experience in interdisciplinary teams.

Programs are offered in areas of greatest need with new partnerships to include northern

and southern Area Health Education Centers, Santa Fe Indian School, NMSU, NMHU,

Senate Bill 175 – Page

3

Luna Community college, and Molina Health Care.

The DOH states that SB175 reflects the Governor’s priorities in the Health Solutions New

Mexico Plan for enhancement of the state’s health care workforce. To a great extent, efforts to

diversify health professions have been hampered by inequalities in educational opportunity for

students of different racial and ethnic groups. Primary and secondary education for

underrepresented students is, on average, below the quality of education for others. The lack of

good primary and secondary foundations results in students who not well-prepared for higher

education.

RELATIONSHIP

Senate Bill 175 is related to:

Senate Bill 14, which proposes to appropriate $1,756,600 from the General Fund to the

Higher Education Department and the Department of Health for expenditure in fiscal year

2009 and subsequent years to fund expanded health professional recruitment, retention

and educational opportunities.

Senate Bill 7, which proposes to appropriate $250,000 from the General Fund to the

Board of Regents of New Mexico Highlands University to establish a demonstration and

research program that will better prepare undergraduate students from small universities

for successful entry into medical school or other related health fields.

House Bill 158, which proposes to appropriate three hundred fifty thousand dollars

($350,000) from the general fund to the Department of Health (DOH) to provide training

and related services for primary care residents in southwestern New Mexico in order to

help rural communities recruit and retain physicians.

GH/nt