Sacramento, CA – Senate Bill 1041, authored by Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank), passed the Senate Business, Professions, & Economic Development Committee today. The bill creates a pathway for foreign educated doctors to practice as physician assistants in California through a training program.
“While there are many highly skilled medical professionals who reside in California who cannot practice medicine, we have a severe shortage of health care providers. We need a program to help address our shortage and offer immigrant doctors the opportunity to take steps to become licensed providers to practice their chosen craft here. If we can do it, it will be a win-win for the patient and the healthcare system,” commented Senator Portantino.
According to the American Medical Association, California is projected to have a shortage of 32,669 physicians by 2030. Furthermore, there is a significant gap in access to culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare services, as the demographic makeup of primary healthcare services and primary care physicians does not adequately reflect the diversity of California’s population in terms of culture, ethnicity, and language.
Among the immigrants who currently reside in California, there are highly skilled doctors and medical professionals with years of experience practicing in Armenia and other countries. The process of undergoing licensing or certification to practice medicine can be complex, time consuming and challenging for immigrants. Programs like these would leverage the skills of immigrant medical professionals and we can better meet the culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare needs of our population.
SB 1041 would establish the Armenian Medical Graduate Physician Assistant Training Program, to be conducted at an appropriate educational institution or institutions. The bill would require the Physician Assistant Board to establish a Training Program Advisory Task Force, who would develop and recommend curriculum for a training program. SB 1041 would make an Armenian medical graduate, who is either a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and who has satisfactorily completed the training program, eligible for licensure as a physician assistant if the person has also successfully completed a certain written examination. SB 1041 would require that the funding for the program be secured through nonprofit philanthropic entities.
Senator Portantino was pleased to have Arnoldo Torres from Noah’s Children Charity and Karekin Karazian, a medical professional and constituent from the City of Glendale, testify in support of the bill at this morning’s hearing.
