39-5905. SCOPE OF RURAL HEALTH CARE ACCESS AND PHYSICIAN INCENTIVE GRANT SUPPORT. The board may award grants, in accordance with the procedures and criteria in this chapter, to governmental and nonprofit entities and to physicians for qualified medical education debt repayments for the purpose of improving access to primary health care services to rural and underserved areas and for physician loan repayment.

(1) Rural health care access grant awards:

(a) Individual grant awards will be limited to a total of thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000), direct and indirect costs, per year.

(b) Applicants may propose projects for funding for up to three (3) years.

(i) Continued funding for projects beyond the first grant year, years two (2) and three (3), shall be subject to the appropriation of funds and grantee performance.

(ii) No project may be funded for more than a total of three (3) years.

(iii) Any unused grant funds shall be returned to the rural health care access fund by the applicant no later than June 1 of the grant period.

(c) No funds awarded under a grant may be used for purchase, construction, renovation or improvement of real property or for projects which are solely or predominantly designed for the purchase of equipment. Use of funds for the purchase of equipment may be allowed when such equipment is an essential component of a program. However, the purchase of equipment may not represent more than forty percent (40%) of the total annual share of a proposal. Indirect costs shall not exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the total project.

(2) Physician incentive grant awards:

(a) A physician selected to receive a rural physician incentive grant award shall be entitled to receive qualified medical education debt repayments for a period not to exceed four (4) years in such amount as is determined annually.

(b) Award amounts shall be established annually based on recommendations of the joint health care access and physician incentive grant review board utilizing such factors as availability of funding, the number of new applicants and the hours an award recipient will devote to providing primary care medicine in an eligible area.

(c) The award shall not exceed the qualified medical education debt incurred by the recipient, and the maximum amount of educational debt repayments that a rural physician may receive shall be one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) over such four (4) year period.

(d) All physician incentive grant awards shall be paid directly from the physician incentive fund to the physician receiving the award.

(e) In determining the awards to be made in any given year, the board shall consider the value of retaining an appropriate balance in the fund for use in future years.

(f) An award payment to a recipient in a single year is not guaranteed or assured in subsequent years and may be increased or reduced.

(g) Any unused grant funds shall be returned to the physician incentive fund by the applicant no later than June 1 of the grant period.

History:

[39-5905, added 2000, ch. 262, sec. 2, p. 736; am. 2009, ch. 119, sec. 2, p. 383; am. 2012, ch. 44, sec. 7, p. 135; am. 2015, ch. 159, sec. 1, p. 554.]