CS for CS for SB 1256 - Physician Workforce

• Repeals provisions related to the graduate medical education committee and establishes a new 19-member Physician Workforce Advisory Council to advise on physician workforce needs, with members appointed by the State Surgeon General and serving 4-year terms without compensation.

• Creates physician workforce graduate medical education innovation pilot projects funded by state appropriations (up to 50% of costs) to expand residency and fellowship positions in primary care and needed specialties, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

• Authorizes the Board of Medicine and newly created Board of Osteopathic Medicine authority to issue temporary $300 certificates to licensed or retired military physicians to practice in areas of critical need, with abbreviated oral exams and streamlined 60-day approval processes.

• Expands physician workforce data collection to include physicians planning to relocate outside the state, those practicing in-state, and those reducing or modifying their scope of practice, with findings reported annually to the Governor and Legislature.

• Coordinates reentry of retired military and other physicians into the workforce and establishes criteria for temporary certificate holders, including practice in county health departments, correctional facilities, Veterans Affairs clinics, and federally qualified health centers.