(a)

(1) The Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board shall administer the Community Match Rural Physician Recruitment Program.

(2)

(A) Interested rural communities may apply to the Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board to participate in the program as a qualified rural community.

(B) The Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board shall approve a designated representative or representatives of the qualified rural community to assist the Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board in matters relating to any community match contracts entered into by the Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board and the qualified rural community.

(b) The Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board, in conjunction with a qualified rural community, may grant community match income incentives to applicants, each incentive being expressly made subject to § 6-81-716, if it finds that:

(1) The applicant is a graduate of:

(A) The College of Medicine of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences or any accredited medical school in the United States; or

(B) A foreign medical school if the applicant:

(i) Was a resident of Arkansas and citizen of the United States prior to enrollment in the foreign medical school; and

(ii) Has been licensed by the Arkansas State Medical Board;

(2) The applicant satisfies one (1) of the following criteria:

(A) He or she is enrolled in a residency or other training program in an area of primary care medicine; or

(B) No more than two (2) years before the date of the application, he or she completed a residency or other training program in an area of primary care medicine;

(3) The applicant desires to practice medicine in the qualified rural community; and

(4) The designated representative or representatives of the qualified rural community approve the applicant.