§ 6-81-715 - Medical school graduates -- Community match contract -- Eligibility for community match loans.
6-81-715. Medical school graduates -- Community match contract -- Eligibility for community match loans.
(a) (1) The Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board shall administer the Community Match Loan and Rural Physician Recruitment Program.
(2) (A) Interested rural communities may apply to the board to participate in the program as a qualified rural community.
(B) The board shall approve a designated representative or representatives of the qualified rural community to assist the board in matters relating to any community match contracts entered into by the board and the qualified rural community.
(b) The board, in conjunction with a qualified rural community, may grant community match income incentives to applicants, each incentive being expressly made subject to 6-81-716, if it finds that:
(1) The applicant is a graduate of the College of Medicine of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences or any accredited medical school in the United States;
(2) The applicant satisfies one (1) of the following criteria:
(A) He or she is enrolled in a residency or other training program in an area of primary care medicine or, upon approval of the board, in a designated specialty; or
(B) No more than two (2) years before the date of the application, he or she completed a residency or other training program in an area of primary care medicine or, upon approval of the board, in a designated specialty;
(3) The applicant desires to practice medicine in the qualified rural community; and
(4) The designated representative or representatives of the qualified rural community approve the applicant.