Physicians and surgeons: foreign medical graduates: special faculty permits.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, prohibits the practice of medicine without a physician's and surgeon's certificate issued by the Medical Board of California through its Division of Licensing. Under existing law, any person who meets certain eligibility requirements, including, but not limited to, the requirement that the person is academically eminent, as defined, may apply for a special faculty permit that authorizes the holder to practice medicine, without a physician's and surgeon's certificate, within the medical school itself and certain affiliated institutions. The act also authorizes physicians who are not citizens who meet certain eligibility requirements and who seek postgraduate study in an approved medical school to, after receipt of an appointment from the dean of the California medical school and application to and approval by the board, be permitted to participate in the professional activities of the department or division in the medical school to which they are appointed. These physicians are known as visiting fellows. The act also authorizes a person who does not immediately qualify for a physician's and surgeon's certificate who is offered by the dean of an approved medical school in this state a full-time faculty position to be granted a certificate of registration to engage in the practice of medicine only to the extent that the practice is incident to and a necessary part of the person's duties as approved by the board in connection with the faculty position, as specified. This bill would also authorize the holder of a special faculty permit, a visiting fellow, and a holder of a certificate of registration to practice medicine at an academic medical center. The bill would define an "academic medical center" to include, but not be limited to, a facility licensed by the State of California that trains a minimum of 250 residents and postdoctoral fellows on an annual basis commencing each January 1. The bill would prohibit the board from approving more than 5 special faculty permit applications submitted by academic medical centers within a calendar year. The bill would also expand the definition of "academically eminent" to include persons who hold or have been offered a full-time position at an academic medical center or persons, clearly outstanding in a specific field of medicine or surgery and who have been offered a full-time position by the chief medical officer of an academic medical center, as specified. The bill would provide that the permitholders and visiting fellows described above who were authorized before January 1, 2021, and are in an academic medical center would be authorized as if their original applications had been sponsored by that academic medical center. The act also authorizes the board, in its discretion, to waive certain examination and certification requirements for licensure for a graduate of a foreign medical school who holds a certificate of registration issued by the board to practice medicine as a full-time faculty member at a medical school. The bill would also authorize the board to accept clinical practice in an appointment as qualifying time to meet specified postgraduate training requirements for licensure for those registrants.