General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5416
February Session, 2020 LCO No. 1695
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE RECRUITMENT OF PHYSICIANS TO THE
STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2020) (a) For the fiscal year ending
2 June 30, 2021, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Office of Higher
3 Education, in collaboration with the Department of Public Health, shall
4 administer, within available appropriations, a physician loan
5 reimbursement grant program to persons who meet the eligibility
6 requirements described in subsection (b) of this section.
7 (b) The program shall provide student loan reimbursement grants to
8 any physician licensed pursuant to chapter 370 of the general statutes or
9 holding a current license in good standing in another state who (1) is
10 employed by a federally qualified health center in the state, and (2)
11 provides primary care or behavioral health services at the federally
12 qualified health center.
13 (c) Any physician who satisfies the eligibility requirements
14 prescribed in subsection (b) of this section shall receive a grant for
15 reimbursement of federal or state educational loans up to a maximum
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 Raised Bill No. 5416
16 of five thousand dollars per year for up to five years of providing
17 primary care or behavioral health services of the federally qualified
18 health center. A physician qualifying under subsection (b) of this section
19 shall only be reimbursed for loan payments made while such physician
20 continues to satisfy such eligibility requirements.
21 (d) Physicians may apply to the Office of Higher Education for grants
22 under this section at such time and in such manner as the executive
23 director of the Office of Higher Education prescribes.
24 (e) Any unexpended funds appropriated for purposes of this section
25 shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year but shall be available for
26 expenditure during the next fiscal year.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2020 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a loan forgiveness program for purposes of recruiting
physicians to the state and expanding access to primary and behavioral
health care services.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
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