SB 373-PHYSICIAN INTERNS AND RESIDENTS  The committee took up SB 373. CHAIR DYSON presented the sponsor statement as follows: Current Alaska statutes require that all residents participating in the WAMI/Family Practice Residency program receive a permit by the State Medical Board for a period not to exceed 18 months after the date of issue. Renewal permits to continue residency [or internship] are also issued by the board, for a period not to exceed 18 months after the date of renewal. Given that the program is a three-year program, all residents are required to get the renewal. The renewal process has been fraught with problems. Residents have needed to interrupt their training on multiple occasions because the renewed permits were not issued efficiently. This legislation would extend the period from 18 to 36 months. CHAIR DYSON indicated that Senators Davis and Green had joined the meeting. DR. HAROLD JOHNSTON, a family physician, and director of Providence Alaska's family practice residency in Anchorage, testified via teleconference that this bill extends the initial permit length for resident physicians from 18 months to three years so that it corresponds with the length of the training program. Family physicians are required to have a total of three years of residency training in order to be board certified. Current law allows the permit for a maximum of 18 months. This requires that the residents renew their permits half way through the training program; this poses problems for the Division of Occupational Licensing. The processing of the licensing renewal requests has created difficulties on several occasions, which has almost caused residents to stop their training. DR. JOHNSTON explained that when the 18-month requirement was originally established, physicians in Alaska only needed to have one year of training before being eligible for a full license. The 18-month term for resident permits allowed residents to complete the first year of training and still have an additional six months to get paperwork processed for the regular license. Several years ago the state law changed, requiring physicians to have two years of residency before obtaining an unrestricted license, which means the 18-month permit is inadequate to get the resident through his/her initial licensing period. The ideal situation would be for permits to be issued for a three- year period from the start of training because in this scenario, there would be no requirement for a renewal. CHAIR DYSON asked if there was anybody present from the administration or the [Division of Occupational Licensing] to speak to the bill. Hearing no response, he then asked, "Do you have any idea, Dr. Johnston, how we got into this remarkable fix?" DR. JOHNSTON re-stated that it was because the law had changed. Originally the 18-month permit was fine because only one year of training was required before getting an unrestricted license. About two or three years ago, the Legislature changed the requirement, and now physicians need to have at least two years - and sometimes three years - of training before getting an unrestricted license. He said he has worked with the State Medical Board on this issue, and at the January meeting after some considerable debate, a resolution unanimously passed in support of changing this to 36 months. SENATOR GARY WILKEN moved to report SB 373 out of committee with individual recommendations. CHAIR DYSON asked if there was any objection. Seeing and hearing none, it was so ordered.