261.19   Health care professional recruitment program.
  1.  A health care professional recruitment program is established to be administered by the college student aid commission for Des Moines university. The program shall consist of a loan repayment program for health care professionals. The commission shall regularly adjust the service requirement under each aspect of the program to provide, to the extent possible, an equal financial benefit for each period of service required.
  2.  A health care professional shall be eligible for the loan repayment program if the health care professional agrees to practice in an eligible rural community in this state. Des Moines university shall recruit and place health care professionals in rural communities which have agreed to provide additional funds for the recipient’s loan repayment. The contract for the loan repayment shall stipulate the time period the recipient shall practice in an eligible rural community in this state. In addition, the contract shall stipulate that the recipient repay any funds paid on the recipient’s loan by the commission if the recipient fails to practice in an eligible rural community in this state for the required period of time.
  3.  A health care professional recruitment revolving fund is created in the state treasury as a separate fund under the control of the commission. The commission shall deposit payments made by health care professional recruitment program recipients and the proceeds from the sale of osteopathic loans awarded pursuant to section 261.19, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, Code 2011, into the health care professional recruitment revolving fund. Moneys credited to the fund shall be used to supplement moneys appropriated for the health care professional recruitment program, for loan repayment in accordance with this section, and to pay for loan or interest repayment defaults by program recipients. Notwithstanding section 8.33, any balance in the fund on June 30 of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund of the state.
  4.  For purposes of this section:
  a.  “Eligible rural community” means a medically underserved rural community which agrees to match state funds provided on at least a dollar-for-dollar basis for the loan repayment of a health care professional who practices in the community.
  b.  “Health care professional” means a physician, physician assistant, podiatrist, or physical therapist.
  5.  The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to administer this section.
[C77, 79, 81, §261.19]
87 Acts, ch 115, §38; 89 Acts, ch 319, §46; 90 Acts, ch 1253, §122; 90 Acts, ch 1272, §51; 97 Acts, ch 134, §1; 2000 Acts, ch 1058, §30; 2000 Acts, ch 1095, §12; 2000 Acts, ch 1223, §27; 2004 Acts, ch 1175, §91; 2009 Acts, ch 177, §26; 2011 Acts, ch 132, §12, 106
Section amended