Report Title:

Physicians; Foreign Residency

Description:

Authorizes the board of medical examiners to grant medical licenses to graduates of foreign medical schools who completed residency programs accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1985

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that present state laws authorize the board of medical examiners to grant licenses to graduates of foreign medical schools who completed their residencies in programs accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. However, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education will only accredit residency programs within the United States. Accordingly, this limitation forces foreign medical school graduates who have completed a residency program outside of the United States to seek out additional, redundant residency training in the United States in order to be granted a license to practice in the State.

The legislature affirms the integrity behind the accreditation standards of the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. However, the legislature also finds that the accreditation standards between the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada are equivalent. The purpose of this Act is to authorize the board of medical examiners to grant licenses to foreign medical school graduates who also completed residency programs accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

SECTION 2. Section 453-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) Before any applicant shall be eligible for licensure, the applicant shall furnish proof satisfactory to the board that:

(1) The applicant is of demonstrated competence and professional knowledge;

(2) (A) The applicant is a graduate of a medical school or college whose program leading to the M.D. degree is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and has served a residency of at least one year in a program which has been accredited for the training of resident physicians by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or if outside the United States, in a program which is shown by the applicant to the satisfaction of the board to possess standards substantially the equivalent of those required for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; or

(B) The applicant is a graduate of a foreign medical school and has had at least two years of residency in a program accredited by either the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[,] or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and:

(i) Holds the national certificate of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, or its successor; or

(ii) Holds the certificate of the Fifth Pathway Program of the American Medical Association;

provided that for a period of two years after June 26, 1990, the requirements of subsection (b)(2)(B)(i) and (ii) shall not apply to any applicant who has had four years of residency in a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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