SENATE MEMORIAL 28

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Lisa A. Torraco

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO TO COMMISSION A STUDY TO EXAMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING AN ACCELERATED CURRICULUM FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS TO EARN DOCTORATES IN MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

     WHEREAS, according to a recent Robert Wood Johnson foundation study, in some New Mexico counties the ratio of patients who need care to available primary care physicians is sixteen thousand twenty-one patients to one primary care physician; and

     WHEREAS, according to the 2015 New Mexico health care workforce committee report, the average age of physicians in New Mexico is fifty-two years and eleven months old; and

     WHEREAS, with thirty-five and nine-tenths percent of New Mexico physicians over sixty years of age, New Mexico has the highest percentage nationwide of physicians who are over age sixty; and

     WHEREAS, the 2015 New Mexico health care workforce committee report shows that New Mexico currently has a shortage of one hundred thirty-nine physicians; and

     WHEREAS, the 2015 New Mexico health care workforce committee report identifies a severe maldistribution of physicians that favors urban areas such as Albuquerque over the vast rural areas of the state; and

     WHEREAS, given the demographics and the maldistribution of physicians, New Mexico's shortage of physicians is expected only to continue; and

     WHEREAS, there are physician assistants who have been trained to practice medicine and who practice throughout the state, helping to address the shortage of providers; and

     WHEREAS, some physician assistants wish to continue in their careers and become physicians; and

     WHEREAS, the training and experience of physician assistants in the practice of medicine should be applicable to their pursuit of a doctorate in medicine; and

     WHEREAS, there are academic institutions that currently offer physician assistants curricula designed to offer an accelerated path to a doctorate in osteopathic medicine; and

     WHEREAS, offering physician assistants an opportunity to pursue an accelerated path to receive a doctorate in medicine is a potential means of increasing the supply of physicians in state; and

     WHEREAS, if the university of New Mexico school of medicine offered an accelerated curriculum to physician assistants to pursue their doctorates in medicine, this could attract physician assistants to train and practice in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the board of regents of the university of New Mexico be requested to commission a study to examine the feasibility of implementing an accelerated curriculum for physician assistants to earn their doctorates in medicine at the university of New Mexico school of medicine; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the board of regents of the university of New Mexico be requested to report the findings of its study to the legislative health and human services committee by November 1, 2016; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the board of regents of the university of New Mexico and to the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee.

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