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