Sec. 58.009.  FACULTY ENHANCEMENT FUND FOR GENERALIST PHYSICIANS.  (a)  Only accredited medical schools identified in Section 61.501(1) shall be eligible to receive funds under this section.
(b)  Only full-time, clinical faculty positions in family practice, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics whose faculty rank is no greater than assistant professor shall be eligible for funds under this section.
(c)  The committee shall recommend to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board an allocation of generalist faculty positions that are to receive state support through the Faculty Enhancement Fund for Generalist Physicians.  The committee shall take into consideration in recommending an allocation the following factors:
(1)  the faculty-student ratio in the generalist specialty at the applicant school;
(2)  the length of time a budgeted generalist faculty position has gone unfilled;
(3)  whether the position is a new generalist faculty position;  and
(4)  other factors as determined by the committee.
(d)  Once funds are awarded to support a generalist faculty position at a particular medical school, the board shall continue to award funds to support that generalist faculty position for a period not to exceed one additional academic year.  After that time, the medical school shall provide an amount equal to the annualized faculty enhancement award in its operating budget to maintain the level of compensation for the position after the grant period has ended.
(e)  The board may spend not more than 10 percent of the amounts appropriated for this program in fiscal year 1998, and not more than five percent of the amounts appropriated for this program in succeeding years, for administering the faculty enhancement program for generalist physicians.
(f)  The board may solicit, receive, and spend grants, gifts, and donations from public and private sources to comply with this section.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 940, Sec. 2, eff. June 18, 1997.