NY Pub Health L § 903 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 9 - Primary Care Education and Training 903 - Primary Care Physician Loan Repayment Program.

§   903.  Primary  care  physician  loan  repayment  program.  1.  The commissioner, in collaboration with the commissioner  of  education  and the   president   of  the  higher  education  services  corporation,  is authorized and directed to establish a physician loan repayment  program to  encourage  medical students to enter primary care specialties and to serve underserved areas and populations.   2. The commissioner is authorized, within amounts  available  pursuant to  subdivision  nineteen-a  of section twenty-eight hundred seven-c and section twenty-eight hundred seven-l  of  this  chapter,  to  make  loan repayment awards as follows:  (a)  beginning  January  first,  nineteen  hundred ninety-four, to any resident who first entered a primary care medical training program on or after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-four in the second or third year of such program; provided such resident agrees to practice  primary care in an underserved area in New York state for one year for each such annual  award  received,  with such practice beginning immediately after completion of such residency training. Such resident shall  be  eligible for  an  award  of  up  to  ten  thousand dollars per year and beginning January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to  fifteen  thousand dollars per year; and  (b)  beginning  January  first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-five,  to a primary care physician, emergency medicine physician or other  physician specialty determined by the commissioner to be in short supply, licensed to  practice  medicine  in New York state, who agrees to practice for at least two years in an underserved area. Such physician shall be eligible for a loan repayment award of up to ten thousand dollars  per  year  and beginning  January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to fifteen thousand dollars per year for each of the first two years of practice in such area; provided, however, if such physician agrees to  practice  for an  additional  two  years  in  such  area, then such physician shall be eligible for an award of up to fifteen thousand  dollars  per  year  and beginning  January  first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to twenty thousand dollars per year for each of  the  second  two  years  of  such practice.   3.  Loan  repayment awards made to a physician pursuant to subdivision two of this section shall not exceed the  total  qualifying  outstanding debt  of  the  physician  from  student loans to cover tuition and other related educational expenses, made by or guaranteed by  the  federal  or state  government,  or  made  by  a  lending  or educational institution approved under title IV  of  the  federal  higher  education  act.  Loan repayment awards shall be used solely to repay such outstanding debt.   4. Within such time as the commissioner shall by regulation provide, a recipient  of  an award shall have practiced as a primary care physician in an underserved area in the state of New York or, in  the  case  of  a recipient  of  an  award  after  completion  of  residency training, the recipient shall have practiced in an underserved area for that number of months calculated by multiplying by twelve the number of  annual  awards received  by  the  recipient.  If a recipient fails to comply fully with such conditions, the president shall be entitled to  receive  from  such recipient an amount to be determined by the formula:                                 A = 2B(t-s)                                   -----                                     t  In  which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is the sum of all payments made to the recipient and the interest  on  such amount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they  were  loans  bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the total number of months in the recipient's period of obligated  services; and  "s"  is  the  number of months of services actually rendered by the recipient.  Any  amount which the president is entitled to recover under this subdivision shall be paid within the five-year period beginning  on the  date  that  the recipient failed to comply with this condition. Any obligation to comply with such provisions shall  be  canceled  upon  the death  of  the  recipient.  The  commissioner of health shall promulgate regulations to provide for the waiver or  suspension  of  any  financial obligation when compliance would involve extreme hardship.   5.  The  commissioner  is  authorized to apply any funds available for purposes of subdivision two of this section for use  as  matching  funds for federal grants for the purpose of assisting states in operating loan repayment  programs  pursuant to section three hundred thirty-eight I of the public health service act.   6.  The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the   council,   shall promulgate  regulations  necessary  to  effectuate  the  provisions  and purposes of this section.