Section 903. Primary care physician loan repayment program

1.  The
  commissioner, in collaboration with the commissioner  of  education  and
  the   president   of  the  higher  education  services  corporation,  is
  authorized and directed to establish a physician loan repayment  program
  to  encourage  medical students to enter primary care specialties and to
  serve underserved areas and populations.
    2. The commissioner is authorized, within amounts  available  pursuant
  to  subdivision  nineteen-a  of section twenty-eight hundred seven-c and
  section twenty-eight hundred seven-l  of  this  chapter,  to  make  loan
  repayment awards as follows:
    (a)  beginning  January  first,  nineteen  hundred ninety-four, to any
  resident who first entered a primary care medical training program on or
  after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-four in the second or third
  year of such program; provided such resident agrees to practice  primary
  care in an underserved area in New York state for one year for each such
  annual  award  received,  with such practice beginning immediately after
  completion of such residency training. Such resident shall  be  eligible
  for  an  award  of  up  to  ten  thousand dollars per year and beginning
  January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to  fifteen  thousand
  dollars per year; and
    (b)  beginning  January  first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-five,  to a
  primary care physician, emergency medicine physician or other  physician
  specialty determined by the commissioner to be in short supply, licensed
  to  practice  medicine  in New York state, who agrees to practice for at
  least two years in an underserved area. Such physician shall be eligible
  for a loan repayment award of up to ten thousand dollars  per  year  and
  beginning  January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to fifteen
  thousand dollars per year for each of the first two years of practice in
  such area; provided, however, if such physician agrees to  practice  for
  an  additional  two  years  in  such  area, then such physician shall be
  eligible for an award of up to fifteen thousand  dollars  per  year  and
  beginning  January  first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven of up to twenty
  thousand dollars per year for each of  the  second  two  years  of  such
  practice.
    3.  Loan  repayment awards made to a physician pursuant to subdivision
  two of this section shall not exceed the  total  qualifying  outstanding
  debt  of  the  physician  from  student loans to cover tuition and other
  related educational expenses, made by or guaranteed by  the  federal  or
  state  government,  or  made  by  a  lending  or educational institution
  approved under title IV  of  the  federal  higher  education  act.  Loan
  repayment awards shall be used solely to repay such outstanding debt.
    4. Within such time as the commissioner shall by regulation provide, a
  recipient  of  an award shall have practiced as a primary care physician
  in an underserved area in the state of New York or, in  the  case  of  a
  recipient  of  an  award  after  completion  of  residency training, the
  recipient shall have practiced in an underserved area for that number of
  months calculated by multiplying by twelve the number of  annual  awards
  received  by  the  recipient.  If a recipient fails to comply fully with
  such conditions, the president shall be entitled to  receive  from  such
  recipient an amount to be determined by the formula:
 
                                 A = 2B(t-s)
                                    -----
                                      t
 
  In  which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is
  the sum of all payments made to the recipient and the interest  on  such
  amount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they

  were  loans  bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the
  total number of months in the recipient's period of obligated  services;
  and  "s"  is  the  number of months of services actually rendered by the
  recipient.  Any  amount which the president is entitled to recover under
  this subdivision shall be paid within the five-year period beginning  on
  the  date  that  the recipient failed to comply with this condition. Any
  obligation to comply with such provisions shall  be  canceled  upon  the
  death  of  the  recipient.  The  commissioner of health shall promulgate
  regulations to provide for the waiver or  suspension  of  any  financial
  obligation when compliance would involve extreme hardship.
    5.  The  commissioner  is  authorized to apply any funds available for
  purposes of subdivision two of this section for use  as  matching  funds
  for federal grants for the purpose of assisting states in operating loan
  repayment  programs  pursuant to section three hundred thirty-eight I of
  the public health service act.
    6.  The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the   council,   shall
  promulgate  regulations  necessary  to  effectuate  the  provisions  and
  purposes of this section.