500.0. Intent: : CALTCHA intends to achieve equity and parity in the universal guarantee of health care to overcome historic geographic or socioeconomic disparities in the size and quality of the health care workforce, fulfilling equitable and ideal ratios of healthcare workers to match the racial, gender and sexual orientation, linguistic and ethnic diversity of the patients and people they serve. The Board shall annually publicly assess the local and statewide need for culturally competent health professionals and all related associated staff, funding and producing an expansion of capacity where warranted
500.1. All public, postsecondary health professional CA schools (including but not limited to schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health, clinical social work, clinical psychology, and allied health fields ) will be tuition-free and will receive a global budget from the CALTCHA Trust Fund to cover the costs of expanding and then maintaining operations that graduate health care workers in numbers sufficient to the states’ needs.
500.2 CALTCHA shall assume the costs of licensure and continuing education of health care workers and providers to ensure the highest quality health care workforce. Therefore, the State shall not include private health professional schools in this appropriation of a global budget, nor shall students at non-public institutions receive tuition reimbursements.
500.3. All books and educational equipment will be included in the tuition subsidy.
501.1. The Secretary and the Board – in consultation with leaders of state institutions of higher learning - will appoint a Director of the California Health Service Corps to oversee the program and its operational staff. The mission of the CHSC is to overcome racial, ethnic, and income disparities and deficiencies in health care and assure culturally competent workforce expansion in all underserved areas in the State.
501.2. Postsecondary health professional students (e.g., medical, dental, nursing, social work, and public health students) must agree to work one year in the CHSC in underserved areas of the State of California in exchange for every year of free tuition for study at public institutions. State health professional students studying in California or California residents who obtain an out-of-state education but who then receive CALTCHA tuition reimbursement or student debt elimination shall also be required and assigned to serve in California in year-for-year exchange in the CHSC.
501.3 An intergovernmental agreement between CALTCHA and state institutions of higher learning will fund health science schools and the CHSC with a global budget from the Trust Fund for ten years.
501.3.1. All participants in the CHSC program will be paid a salary commensurate with their years of training and skill level and the prevailing wage for medical professionals negotiated by those who work in their respective specialties and fields.
501.4. The program will encourage California Health Service Corps participants to practice in the community where they grew up if that community is an undeserved one.
501.5. All health professional students at public institutions will be trained for and assigned to a California neighborhood (specifically to a Neighborhood Liaison Office) to assist in carrying out local neighborhood needs assessment and be responsible for up to 1000 households or families mandated by the cognizant Neighborhood Health Assembly and Public Health Departments for the period of their public education or appropriate portion thereof by the Executive Director of the CHSC.
501.6. State health science schools shall have the requisite number of qualified professors as this Act prioritizes the significant expansion of the health care workforce.
501.7. All postsecondary health professional schools shall have compulsory Spanish classes, cultural competency, sociology coursework, and a history class on health policy and practices since the 19th century.
501.8. Postsecondary health professional schools will give admissions priority to bilingual students.
502.1. All past and existing medical, dental, nursing, and public health professional tuition indebtedness shall be forgiven by a one-time buy-out by the Trust Fund within a reasonable timeframe.
502.2. No further health professional educational indebtedness originating from a study at California public institutions shall ensue after CALTCHA implementation.
503.1. For the first five (5) years of the program, 1% of the Trust Fund – appropriated annually - shall be dedicated to funding workforce transition of administrative personnel who lose employment and or are otherwise displaced by the implementation of CALTCHA. The Secretary and the Trust Fund Board will appoint a fifteen (15) member Just Workforce Transition Planning Board that will report directly to the Secretary, and that will ensure a fair career transition for the estimated 1,800,000 workers who may be affected.
503.2. Rights of Workers Displaced by CALTCHA
503.2.1. Nothing in this section shall restrict the right of workers displaced by CALTCHA to receive federal and State unemployment benefits.
503.2.2. Clerical, administrative, and billing personnel employed in insurance companies, administration intermediaries, clinician’s offices, and other health care institutions whose jobs are eliminated due to reduced administration and related operations shall have first priority in retraining and job placement in the new system, emphasizing positions in direct health service, care coordination, and education.
503.2.3. Displaced employees shall be eligible to receive two years of CALTCHA employment transition benefits equal to salary earned during the twelve ( 12) months of employment, not to exceed $100,000 per year.