Income Tax - Credit for Physician Preceptors in Areas With Health Care Workforce Shortages - Alterations
Summary
SB466 alters Maryland’s income tax credit for licensed physicians who serve as uncompensated physician preceptors in areas with health care workforce shortages. The bill narrows and then broadens eligibility in key ways: it removes the requirement that the student be enrolled in a Maryland medical school or Maryland medical training program, and it reduces the required community-based clinical training rotation from 100 hours to 90 hours per rotation. The credit remains tied to physicians who supervise students in approved preceptorship programs and who work in shortage areas identified by the Maryland Department of Health, in consultation with the Governor’s Workforce Development Board.
The bill preserves the structure of the existing credit but adds a cap on how much unused credit authority can be carried forward into future years. A physician may receive a $1,000 credit certificate for each qualifying rotation, up to $10,000 per taxable year, and the Department may issue no more than $100,000 in certificates per year. If the full annual amount is not used, the excess may be carried forward, but the carried-forward total from prior years may not exceed $100,000. The Department must continue to approve qualifying applications on a first-come, first-served basis and report annually on credit utilization.
Impact
SB466 amends §10-738 of the Tax-General Article to expand access to the physician preceptor tax credit while tightening administrative limits on unused credit capacity. It affects licensed physicians who provide unpaid clinical supervision, medical schools and training programs that place students in preceptorships, and the Maryland Department of Health, which administers the credit and issues certificates. The bill is intended to support health care workforce development in shortage areas by making it easier for more preceptors to qualify and by preserving the credit’s availability within a capped annual fiscal framework.
Sentiment
The available voting record suggests broad support for the bill. It passed the Senate unanimously and later passed the House by a wide margin, indicating bipartisan agreement that the credit should be adjusted to better support physician training and workforce shortages. The rejection of a floor amendment also suggests that while the underlying bill was broadly accepted, at least one proposed change did not attract sufficient support.
Contention
The main policy questions appear to have been about the scope and administration of the credit rather than the concept itself. The bill’s changes to eligibility—especially removing the Maryland-only enrollment requirement and lowering the clinical rotation hour threshold—likely reflect an effort to make the credit more usable and responsive to workforce needs. The amendment vote indicates some disagreement over how the bill should be modified, but the final passage shows little opposition to the core measure. The cap on carried-forward credit authority also suggests concern about fiscal control and limiting the accumulation of unused tax credit capacity.