§ 71-5653 — Terms, defined

For purposes of the Rural Health Systems and Professional Incentive Act:
(1) Approved medical specialty means family practice, general practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and psychiatry;
(2) Approved dental specialty means general practice, pediatric dentistry, and oral surgery;
(3) Approved mental health practice program means an approved educational program consisting of a master's or doctorate degree with the focus being primarily therapeutic mental health and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in mental health practice or psychology by the department;
(4) Commission means the Nebraska Rural Health Advisory Commission;
(5) Department means the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services;
(6) Doctorate-level mental health student means a graduate student enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in an approved mental health practice program leading to a doctorate degree and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in psychology by the department;
(7) Full-time practice means a minimum of forty hours per week;
(8) Health care means both somatic and mental health care services;
(9) Master's level mental health student means a graduate student enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in an approved mental health practice program leading to a master's degree and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in mental health practice by the department;
(10) Office means the Office of Rural Health;
(11) Part-time practice means less than full-time practice but at least twenty hours per week;
(12) Qualified educational debts means government and commercial student-loan loans obtained by students for postsecondary education tuition, other educational expenses, and reasonable living expenses, as determined by the department, but does not include loans received under the act; and
(13) Rural means located within any county in Nebraska having a population of less than fifteen thousand inhabitants and not included within a metropolitan statistical area as defined by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1991, LB 400, § 4; Laws 1992, LB 573, § 10; Laws 1994, LB 1223, § 56; Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 727; Laws 1996, LB 1155, § 48; Laws 1998, LB 1073, § 153; Laws 2000, LB 1115, § 80; Laws 2004, LB 1005, § 101; Laws 2005, LB 301, § 54; Laws 2007, LB296, § 625; Laws 2015, LB196, § 3.