2023 Iowa Code 261.113 – Rural Iowa primary care loan repayment program — fund — appropriations
A rural Iowa primary care loan repayment program is established to be administered by the college student aid commission for purposes of providing loan repayments for medical students who agree to practice as physicians in service commitment areas for five years and meet the requirements of this section.
An individual is eligible to apply to enter into a program agreement with the commission pursuant to subsection 3 if the individual is enrolled full-time in and receives a recommendation from the state university of Iowa college of medicine or Des Moines university – osteopathic medical center in a curriculum leading to a doctor of medicine degree or a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree.
A program agreement shall be entered into by an eligible student and the commission during the eligible student’s final year of study leading to a doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine degree. Under the agreement, to receive loan repayments pursuant to subsection 5, an eligible student shall agree to and shall fulfill all of the following requirements:
The commission shall give priority to eligible students who are residents of Iowa upon enrolling in the university.
The amount of loan repayment an eligible student who enters into an agreement pursuant to subsection 3 shall receive if in compliance with obligations under the agreement shall be forty thousand dollars annually for an eligible loan if the total loan amount equals or exceeds two hundred thousand dollars. Payments made pursuant to an agreement entered into under subsection 3 may be made for each year of eligible practice during a period of five consecutive years and shall not exceed a total of two hundred thousand dollars. If the total amount of an eligible student’s eligible loan upon graduation is less than two hundred thousand dollars, the commission shall divide the total amount of the eligible student’s eligible loan by five to determine the annual amount of loan repayment the loan recipient is eligible to receive.
A loan repayment recipient who refinances an eligible loan by obtaining a private educational loan may continue to receive loan repayment under this section if the amount of loan repayment does not exceed the lesser of the amount specified in subsection 5 or the balance of the loan repayment amount the loan repayment recipient qualified to receive with the eligible loan.
The commission shall not enter into more than twenty program agreements annually unless surplus funds are available. The percentage of agreements entered into pursuant to subsection 3 by students attending eligible universities shall be evenly divided. However, if there are fewer applicants at one eligible university, eligible student applicants enrolled in other eligible universities may be awarded the remaining agreements.
A loan repayment recipient shall notify the commission of the recipient’s service commitment area prior to beginning practice in the area. The commission may waive the requirement that the loan repayment recipient practice in the same service commitment area for all five years.
The commission shall adopt rules to provide, in addition to loan repayment provided to eligible students pursuant to an agreement entered into under subsection 3, and subject to the availability of surplus funds, loan repayment to a physician who received a doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from an eligible university as provided in subsection 2, obtained a license to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state, completed the physician’s residency program requirement, and is engaged in the full-time or part-time practice of medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery specializing in a practice area listed in subsection 3, paragraph “d”, in a service commitment area for a period of five consecutive years. The amount of loan repayment provided to a physician pursuant to this subsection shall be subject to the same limitations applicable to an eligible student under subsection 5. The total amount of a physician’s eligible loans shall be established as of the date the physician applies for loan repayment pursuant to this subsection.
A person who entered into an agreement pursuant to subsection 3 may apply to the commission to amend the agreement to allow the person to engage in a part-time practice specified in subsection 3, paragraph “d”. For agreements entered into pursuant to subsection 3 prior to July 1, 2022, the commission and the person may consent to amend the agreement under which the person shall engage in the part-time practice of medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery specializing in family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, or general surgery in a service commitment area, for an extended period of part-time practice determined by the commission to be proportional to the amount of full-time practice remaining under the original agreement.
A rural Iowa primary care trust fund is created in the state treasury as a separate fund under the control of the commission. The commission shall remit all repayments made pursuant to this section to the rural Iowa primary care trust fund. All moneys deposited or paid into the trust fund are appropriated and made available to the commission to be used for meeting the requirements of this section. Moneys in the fund up to the total amount that an eligible student or a physician may receive for an eligible loan in accordance with this section and upon fulfilling the requirements of subsection 3 or subsection 9, as applicable, shall be considered encumbered for the duration of the eligible student’s or physician’s obligation under subsection 3 or subsection 9, as applicable. Notwithstanding section 8.33, any balance in the fund on June 30 of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund of the state, but shall be available for purposes of this section in subsequent fiscal years.
For purposes of this section: