(a) In recognition of North Carolina’s need for primary care physicians, Bowman Gray School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine shall each prepare a plan with the goal of encouraging North Carolina residents to enter the primary care disciplines of general internal medicine, general pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, and combined medicine/pediatrics and to strive to have at least fifty percent (50%) of North Carolina residents graduating from each school entering these disciplines.

(b) The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall set goals for the Schools of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the School of Medicine at East Carolina University for increasing the percentage of graduates who enter residencies and careers in primary care. A minimum goal should be at least sixty percent (60%) of graduates entering primary care disciplines.

Primary care shall include the disciplines of family medicine, general pediatric medicine, general internal medicine, internal medicine/pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology.

(b1) The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall set goals for State-operated health professional schools that offer training programs for licensure or certification of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives for increasing the percentage of the graduates of those programs who enter clinical programs and careers in primary care.

(c) The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall further initiate whatever changes are necessary on admissions, advising, curriculum, and other policies for State-operated medical schools and State-operated health professional schools to ensure that larger proportions of students seek residencies and clinical training in primary care disciplines. The Board shall work with the Area Health Education Centers and other entities, adopting whatever policies it considers necessary to ensure that residency and clinical training programs have sufficient residency and clinical positions for graduates in these primary care specialties. As used in this subsection, health professional schools are those schools or institutions that offer training for licensure or certification of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives.

(d) The progress of the private and State-operated medical schools and State-operated health professional schools towards increasing the number and proportion of graduates entering primary care shall be monitored annually by the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina. Monitoring data shall include (i) the entry of State-supported graduates into primary care residencies and clinical training programs, and (ii) the specialty practices by a physician and each midlevel provider who were State-supported graduates as of a date five years after graduation. The Board of Governors shall certify data on graduates, their residencies and clinical training programs, and subsequent careers by April 15 of each calendar year, beginning in April of 2022, to the Fiscal Research Division of the Legislative Services Office and to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.

(e) The information provided in subsection (d) of this section shall be made available to the Appropriations Committees of the General Assembly for their use in future funding decisions on medical and health professional education. (1993, c. 321, ss. 78(a1)-(e); c. 529, s. 1.3; c. 561, s. 10; 1995, c. 507, s. 23A.5; 2012-142, s. 9.5; 2021-80, s. 2.1.)