§ 904 — Primary care practitioner scholarship program

§ 904. Primary care practitioner scholarship program. 1. The\ncommissioner, in collaboration with the commissioner of education and\nthe president of the higher education services corporation, is\nauthorized and directed to establish a primary care practitioner\nscholarship program to provide financial support to applicants to enter\nor continue in a primary care practitioner program and who agree to\nserve in underserved areas of New York state.\n 2. The commissioner is authorized, within amounts available pursuant\nto subdivision nineteen-a of section twenty-eight hundred seven-c and\nsection twenty-eight hundred seven-l of this chapter, to make\nscholarship awards pursuant to this section.\n 3. A scholarship recipient shall (a) be a resident of New York state\nwho attends or plans to attend a primary care practitioner program; and\n(b) agree to practice as a primary care practitioner in an underserved\narea of New York state.\n 4. In selecting students to be awarded scholarships, preference shall\nbe given to students who attend or plan to attend a primary care\npractitioner program located in New York state. Priority in the\nselection of recipients shall be given to recipients applying for second\nyear funding. Scholarships shall be awarded competitively using\nselection criteria that include, but are not limited to: academic\nperformance, previous work experience in their chosen profession, and a\ndemonstrated interest or commitment in working with underserved\npopulations or in underserved areas.\n 5. Within such time as the commissioner shall by regulation provide, a\nrecipient of an award shall agree to practice in an underserved area of\nthis state for a period of eighteen months for each annual award to be\nreceived by the recipient. In no case shall the total number of months\nof service be less than eighteen. The commissioner shall secure from\neach recipient a written agreement to:\n (a) provide primary care services in an area designated as having a\nshortage of primary care practitioners;\n (b) work in a practice site that accepts payment on behalf of\nbeneficiaries of title XVIII of the federal social security act\n(medicare) and individuals eligible for medical assistance pursuant to\ntitle eleven of article five of the social services law; and\n (c) provide thirty-five hours per week of direct patient care in the\ndesignated shortage area being served.\n 6. If a recipient fails to comply fully with such conditions, the\npresident shall be entitled to receive from such recipient an amount to\nbe determined by the formula:\n A = 2B(t-s)\n -----\n t\nin which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is\nthe sum of all awards made to the recipient and the interest on such\namount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they\nwere loans bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the\ntotal number of months in the recipient's period of obligated services;\nand "s" is the number of months of service actually rendered by the\nrecipient. Any amount which the president is entitled to recover under\nthis paragraph shall be paid within the five-year period beginning on\nthe date that the recipient failed to comply with this service\ncondition. Nothing in the written agreement shall affect the terms of\nemployment of the individual who shall negotiate, separate and apart\nfrom the program, his or her salary and other forms of employment with\nan agency, institution or a program in which he or she shall be\nemployed. Any obligation to comply with such provisions as outlined in\nthis section shall be canceled upon the death of the recipient. The\ncommissioner shall promulgate regulations to provide for the waiver or\nsuspension of any financial obligation when compliance would involve\nextreme hardship.\n 7. A recipient of an award shall report annually to the New York state\nhigher education services corporation, on forms prescribed by the\npresident, as to the performance of the required services, commencing\nwith the calendar year in which the recipient begins to provide primary\ncare services in an underserved area and continuing until the recipient\nshall have completed, or until it is determined that he or she shall not\nbe obligated to complete, the required services. If the recipient shall\nfail to file any report required hereunder within thirty days of written\nnotice to the recipient, mailed to the address shown on the last\napplication for an award or last report filed, whichever is later, the\npresident of the corporation may impose a fine of up to one thousand\ndollars. The president shall have the discretion to waive the filing of\na report, excuse a delay in filing or a failure to file a report, or\nwaive or reduce any fine imposed for good cause shown.\n 8. The commissioner is authorized to apply any funds available for\npurposes of subdivision two of this section for use as matching funds\nfor the federal community scholarship programs grants pursuant to\nsection three hundred thirty-eight L of the public health service act.\n