Powers as to medical student loans and scholarships

(a) It shall be the duty of the board to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow all applications for loans made to or scholarships given to students who are bona fide citizens and residents of the State of Georgia and who desire to become doctors of medicine and who are acceptable for enrollment in an accredited medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association for a program in medical education designed to qualify the graduate for licensure by the Georgia Composite Medical Board. The purpose of such loans shall be to enable such applicants to obtain a standard medical education from a medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association which will qualify them to become licensed to practice medicine in the State of Georgia. It shall be the duty of the board to make a careful and full investigation of the ability, character, and qualifications of each applicant and determine the applicant’s fitness to become the recipient of such loan or scholarship, and for such purpose the board may propound such examination to each applicant which it deems proper. The board may also prescribe such rules and regulations as it deems necessary and proper to carry out the purpose and intention of this part. The investigation of the applicant shall include an investigation of the ability of the applicant, and of the parents of such applicant, to pay his or her own tuition at such medical school, and the board in granting such loans and scholarships shall give preference to qualified applicants who, and whose parents, are unable to pay the applicant’s tuition at such a medical school. (b) The board shall have authority to grant to each applicant deemed by the board to be qualified to receive the same a loan or scholarship on a one-year renewable basis for the purpose of acquiring a medical education from a medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association, upon such terms and conditions as in the judgment of the board may be necessary or desirable. The board is authorized to consider, among other criteria, the home area of the student and the likelihood, if determinable, that the student will practice medicine in an area of this state which may entitle the student to repay the loan through services rendered as provided in this part. (Code 1981, § 20-3-512, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 951, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 20; Ga. L. 2009, p. 859, § 2/HB 509; Ga. L. 2011, p. 459, § 1/HB 509; Ga. L. 2014, p. 333, § 1/HB 998.) 287 The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, inserted ‘‘from a medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association’’ in the second sentence of subsection (a) and the first sentence of subsection (b); in subsection (a), in the first sentence, inserted ‘‘to’’ preceding ‘‘students who are 20-3-513 bona fide’’, deleted ‘‘four-year’’ preceding ‘‘medical school’’, and deleted ‘‘of the American Medical Association’’ following ‘‘Liaison Committee on Medical Education’’, deleted ‘‘four-year’’ following ‘‘obtain a standard’’ in the second sentence, and substituted ‘‘such’’ for ‘‘that’’ in the third sentence; and deleted ‘‘standard four-year’’ following ‘‘purpose of acquiring a’’ in the first sentence of subsection (b). 20-3-513. Determination of amount by board; terms and conditions; repayment in services. Students whose applications are approved shall receive a loan or scholarship in an amount to be determined by the board to defray the tuition and other expenses of the applicant in an accredited medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association for a program in medical education designed to qualify the graduate for licensure by the Georgia Composite Medical Board. The loans and scholarships shall be paid in such manner as the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce shall determine and may be prorated so as to pay to the medical college or school to which any applicant is admitted such funds as are required by such college or school with the balance being paid directly to the applicant; all of which shall be under such terms and conditions as may be provided under rules and regulations of the board. The loans or scholarships to be granted to each applicant shall be based upon the condition that the full amount of the loans or scholarships shall be repaid to the State of Georgia in services to be rendered by the applicant by practicing his or her profession in an area of this state which is rural and underserved by primary care physicians as determined by the board, in a regional area of this state composed of rural counties where an unmet need for certain primary care and other critical need specialty physicians exists as determined by the board and approved by the commissioners of community health and public health, or at any hospital or facility operated by or under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Health, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Department of Corrections, or the Department of Juvenile Justice. For each year of practicing his or her profession in such board approved location, the applicant shall receive credit for the amount of the scholarship received during any one year in medical school, with the interest due on such amount. (Code 1981, § 20-3-513, enacted by Ga. L. 2014, p. 333, § 2/HB 998.) 288 Effective date. — This Code section became effective July 1, 2014. Editor’s notes. — This Code section formerly pertained to determination of amount by board, terms and conditions, and repayment in services. The former Code section was based on Ga. L. 1983, p. 951, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 20; Ga. L. 20-3-514 1985, p. 283, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1122, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 265, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1453, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 402, § 2; Ga. L. 2008, p. 12, § 2-3/SB 433; Ga. L. 2009, p. 859, § 2/HB 509; Ga. L. 2010, p. 286, § 17/SB 244; Ga. L. 2011, p. 459, § 1/HB 509, and was repealed by Ga. L. 2014, p. 333, § 2/HB 998, effective July 1, 2014. 20-3-514. Contract provisions for loan or scholarship.