135.177 - PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT MENTAL HEALTH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM -- REPEAL.

        135.177  PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT MENTAL HEALTH FELLOWSHIP
      PROGRAM -- REPEAL.
         1.  The department, in cooperation with the college student aid
      commission, shall establish a physician assistant mental health
      fellowship program in accordance with this section.  Funding for the
      program may be provided through the health care workforce shortage
      fund or the physician assistant mental health fellowship program
      account created in section 135.175.  The purpose of the program is to
      determine the effect of specialized training and support for
      physician assistants in providing mental health services on
      addressing Iowa's shortage of mental health professionals.
         2.  The program shall provide for all of the following:
         a.  Collaboration with a hospital serving a thirteen-county
      area in central Iowa that provides a clinic at the Iowa veterans
      home, a private nonprofit agency headquartered in a city with a
      population of more than one hundred ninety thousand that operates a
      freestanding psychiatric medical institution for children, a private
      university with a medical school educating osteopathic physicians
      located in a city with a population of more than one hundred ninety
      thousand, the Iowa veterans home, and any other clinical partner
      designated for the program.  Population figures used in this
      paragraph refer to the most recent certified federal census.  The
      clinical partners shall provide supervision, clinical experience,
      training, and other support for the program and physician assistant
      students participating in the program.
         b.  Elderly, youth, and general population clinical
      experiences.
         c.  A fellowship of twelve months for three physician
      assistant students, annually.
         d.  Supervision of students participating in the program
      provided by the university and the other clinical partners
      participating in the program.
         e.  A student participating in the program shall be eligible
      for a stipend of not more than fifty thousand dollars for the twelve
      months of the fellowship plus related fringe benefits.  In addition,
      a student who completes the program and practices in Iowa in a mental
      health professional shortage area, as defined in section 135.80,
      shall be eligible for up to twenty thousand dollars in loan
      forgiveness.  The stipend and loan forgiveness provisions shall be
      determined by the department and the college student aid commission,
      in consultation with the clinical partners.
         f.  The state and private entity clinical partners shall
      regularly evaluate and document their experiences with the approaches
      utilized and outcomes achieved by the program to identify an optimal
      model for operating the program.  The evaluation process shall
      include but is not limited to identifying ways the program's clinical
      and training components could be modified to facilitate other student
      and practicing physician assistants specializing as mental health
      professionals.
         3.  This section is repealed June 30, 2014.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         2009 Acts, ch 118, §47, 54
         Referred to in § 135.175 
         Footnotes
         Implementation of section conditioned upon availability of
      funding; 2009 Acts, ch 118, §54