AN ACT TO DIRECT THE NORTH CAROLINA AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERs PROGRAM to STUDY IMPEDIMENTS TO THE AVAILABILITY OF COMMUNITY‑BASED PRECEPTORS.

Whereas, North Carolina must devise solutions to the healthcare preceptor crisis by first assessing the causes and related environmental factors; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (NC AHEC) shall study (i) the availability of community preceptors in North Carolina and nearby states and (ii) the demand for those preceptors, including factors that influence the supply and barriers that community‑based outpatient clinicians face in teaching healthcare professional students. NC AHEC shall provide an interim report with its findings to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services no later than April 1, 2024, and a final report no later than September 1, 2024. NC AHEC shall consult with other healthcare professional organizations and boards, including, but not limited to, the North Carolina Nurses Association, the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, the North Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants, the North Carolina Healthcare Association, the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, the North Carolina Medical Society, the North Carolina Pediatric Society, The University of North Carolina, the North Carolina Board of Nursing, and the North Carolina Medical Board. As part of its study, NC AHEC shall do at least the following:

(1)        Survey other states to identify the best innovative and effective approaches to address preceptor shortages for medical students, nurse practitioner students, physician assistant students, and prelicensure nursing students.

(2)        Research and report on the current approaches to identifying, engaging, financing, and evaluating clinical training sites and how schools use tuition funding to cover their students' costs related to clinical placements and training. As part of this component of the study, NC AHEC shall consult with the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina, the State Board of Community Colleges, and the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities.

(3)        Assess the capacity of North Carolina and nearby states for clinical training sites, in consultation with the North Carolina Healthcare Association (NCHA), the North Carolina Community Health Center Association, and clinically integrated networks, including the following information for North Carolina:

a.         The number and percentage of independent and health system practices that are currently clinical training sites.

b.         The number and percentage of independent and health system practices that could become clinical training sites.

c.         The impacts on the efficiency of clinical practices when or if they become clinical training sites.

SECTION 2.  Appropriation. – There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year and two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2024‑2025 fiscal year to be allocated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program to fund the study required by Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.