Code of Maine Rules › 94 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES › 457 - FINANCE AUTHORITY OF MAINE (FAME) › Chapter 618 - MAINE VETERINARY MEDICINE LOAN PROGRAM, Amendment 2 › Section 457-618-5 - LOAN AGREEMENT REQUIREMENTS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
Each loan recipient must sign a Loan Agreement with the
				  Authority including at minimum the following provisions:
1. The loan recipient, except recipients who
				withdraw from professional education or no longer reside in Maine, must provide
				the annual report to the Authority on forms supplied annually on or before the
				date indicated by the Authority as the due date.
2. Until the loan is satisfied, the loan
				recipient must report any change of address to the Authority within four weeks
				of any address change.
3. A loan
				recipient must make a commitment to undertake specific training, including
				clinical experiences in livestock or emergency and critical care medicine, and
				report such experiences annually to the Authority in the annual report.
4.
Forgiveness
A. Upon compliance with all necessary
				procedures, practitioners who practice veterinary medicine full time in an area
				of Maine with insufficient veterinary services and whose practice is devoted to
				livestock or emergency and critical care at least 20 hours per week, or who
				practice veterinary medicine of any type in an underserved geographic region at
				least 20 hours per week, will be forgiven 25% of their original outstanding
				indebtedness under this Program for each full year of practice during the
				repayment period.
B. Upon
				compliance with all necessary procedures, practitioners who practice veterinary
				medicine full time in an area of Maine with insufficient veterinary services
				and whose practice is devoted to livestock or emergency and critical care or to
				veterinary medicine of any type in an underserved geographic region less than
				20 hours per week, but not less than 10 hours per week, will be forgiven 12.5%
				of their original outstanding indebtedness under this Program for each full
				year of practice during the repayment period.
C. Upon compliance with all necessary
				procedures, practitioners who practice veterinary medicine less than full time
				in an area of Maine with insufficient veterinary services but devote at least
				10 hours per week to the care of livestock or emergency and critical care or
				veterinary medicine of any kind in an underserved geographic region will be
				forgiven 12.5% of their original outstanding indebtedness under this Program
				for each full year of practice during the repayment period.
D. Loan recipients may receive partial loan
				forgiveness on a pro rata basis if they fulfill all the criteria but maintain
				the appropriate practice for less than a full calendar year. Loan recipients
				must notify the Authority as soon as practicable of the cessation of a practice
				allowing for loan forgiveness. The accrual of interest will commence one day
				after cessation of such a practice regardless of when notice is received. Cash
				payments will be due the earlier of one month after cessation of the practice
				or one month after the Authority has received notice.
E. Loan recipients who practice in a
				situation which does not qualify them to receive forgiveness of their loan and
				later establish a practice which qualifies them to receive forgiveness during
				the ten-year repayment period may reduce the balance due through return
				service. Any monies due and payable for the time spent in the practice
				ineligible for forgiveness must be paid in cash and will not be forgiven for
				return service in Maine. Each year of return service will reduce the remaining
				balance including accrued interest by the applicable amount of the total
				original indebtedness.
F. The
				Authority may, in the discretion of the chief executive officer, refuse to
				credit all or any part of forgiveness of any loan if the loan recipient fails
				to return the annual report within 30 days of the due date of such report or
				fails to provide any information requested by the Maine Department of
				Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry within 30 days of any such request.
G. The Maine Department of
				Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry shall assist the Authority in
				determining whether the level of service provided by the loan recipient to
				livestock or in emergency and critical care setting or to veterinary medicine
				of any type in an underserved geographic region was reasonable. If the Maine
				Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry determines that the level
				of service provided was not reasonable, the Authority may refuse to grant any
				loan forgiveness for the period of the loan.