House Bill 295: Physician Workforce Amendments

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What is H.B. 295?

Utah consistently ranks among the most underserved states in most areas of healthcare
delivery, both in urban and rural settings due in large part to shortages of physicians. On March
22, 2022, Governor Spencer Cox signed into law House Bill 295 which provided funding for the
development of new and/or expanded Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs to increase the graduate medical workforce in Utah. The bill provides a fund for additional residency slots and for both public and private institutions to either expand or create new GME programs. Also, this bill creates a grant program to establish a new forensic psychiatrist fellowship program. This will be the first forensic psychiatry fellowship program in Utah.

The Legislature appropriated the sum of $5 million in FY2023 and $2 million for subsequent
fiscal years thereafter for the purpose of GME. It also appropriates the sum of $550,000 ongoing to the forensic psychiatry fellowship program. The primary focus of the additional GME slots is to be
for rural programs, primary care, and mental health. House Bill 295 tasked the Utah Medical
Education Consortium (UMEC) on how to best distribute the GME funds allocated by the
Legislature, directing the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to manage the
grant funds. UMEC will review and score responses to this Request for Applications.

Grant Cycle:

Funding

Graduate Medical Education Grant Program (FY23 One-Time)	$3,000,000
Graduate Medical Education Grant Program (Ongoing)	$1,500,00
Forensic Psychiatrist Fellowship Program (Ongoing)	$550,000

Reporting Requirement for GME Grant Program:
The reporting period is defined as the period of time from the day the grant is awarded until ten years after the grant is awarded.

• All recipients of funding are required to submit to DHHS quarterly fiscal reports and quarterly progress reports until all grant funds have been expended.
• For the entire reporting period, grantee will need to submit to DHHS an annual fiscal and progress reports, and a final evaluation.
• Grantees must continue to submit annual reports and a final evaluation even after all state funding has been spent.
• All reports must include the performance measures, satisfaction of partners, and sustainability.
• The annual reports must also include an annual roster of residents.
• Awardees are also required to administer annual surveys of residents as directed by DHHS and provide the results of the surveys to UMEC.

Details on GME Grant Program and Application Guidance

For more information on HB295

Utah State Legislature

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education