Code of Maine Rules
94 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
457 - FINANCE AUTHORITY OF MAINE (FAME)
Chapter 607 - ACCESS TO MEDICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH PROFESSIONS LOAN PROGRAMS
Section 457-607-I - DEFINITIONS

1. "Annual report" means a report provided annually by the Authority to the loan recipient, requiring the loan recipient to provide a current address and status of the loan recipient's professional education, training or practice and such other information the Authority deems useful or necessary for the efficient administration of the Program.

2. "Chief executive officer" means the chief executive officer of the Authority or a person acting under the supervisory control of the chief executive officer.

3. "Clinical education" means any on-location teaching environment ranging from a one-to-one training between a physician, or as to students of veterinary medicine a veterinarian, and a medical student to a training in a health clinic or hospital with or without a residency program.

4. "Contract student" means a person who obtained a position in an institution pursuant to an agreement between the Authority and the institution.

5. "Completion of professional education" means completion of medical school, post-graduate medical training and obligated public health service, and/or obligated national service.

6. "Entire family practice residency program in the State" means any family practice residency in the State approved by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, American Medical Association - Association of American Medical Colleges or any general practice residency approved by the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association and also includes:

7. "Family contribution" means the aggregate of the student and family contribution. In the event an institution uses any methodology other than federal methodology to determine family contribution, the institution shall provide the Authority an explanation of how it calculates family contribution.

7A. "Federal methodology" means the process used by the United States Department of Education to determine a student's financial need.

8. "Forgiveness" means the satisfaction of all or a portion of the loan obligation by the loan recipient through an eligible practice as set forth in section III. E.3, section IV. D. or section V. C.

9. "Health professional shortage area" means an area in the State lacking in medical professionals as designated by the Commissioner of Health and Human Services.

10. "Indebtedness" shall be equal to (1) the tuition differential, plus any interest accrued thereon and (2) any amount borrowed as a direct loan for medical education, plus any interest accrued thereon.

11. "Institution" means an institution of allopathic or osteopathic medical education. For students commencing medical education prior to January 1, 1993, institution includes any institution of medical education that has had a contract to provide access to medical education for Maine students with the Authority or any agency which administrated the Post Graduate Health Professions Program prior to the Authority.

12. "Insufficient veterinary services" means an insufficient number of practitioners of veterinary medicine in either a veterinary specialty or a geographic area, as determined by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

12A. "Large animal(s)", as that term is used in Section II(A)(2), Section II(B) (2), Section II(C) (1), and Section III(B), means cattle, oxen, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, bison raised for food, and/or domesticated deer and/or elk, and may also include other animals, upon request, in the Authority's sole discretion.

13. "Loan recipient" means any student who incurs indebtedness evidenced by a Note and Loan Agreement requiring the amount of money borrowed to be repaid either through cash installment payments or through forgiveness.

14. "Maine resident" means a person who has been a resident of the State for a minimum of one year at the time of matriculation at medical school for other than educational purposes. In determining whether an applicant is a Maine resident the Authority may consider (1) the secondary school the applicant attended; (2) the legal residence of the applicant's parents, if the applicant is dependent; (3) the location where the applicant is registered to vote, if any; (4) the jurisdiction(s) in which the applicant files income tax forms; (5) the jurisdiction where the applicant is licensed to drive, if any; (6) such other relevant documents and information as determined necessary or convenient in the opinion of the chief executive officer.

15. "Nonresident tuition" means tuition charged to persons who do not reside in the state where the institution is located. If no distinction is made between the tuition charged residents and nonresident students at the institution, then nonresident tuition means the tuition charged all students.

16. "Obligated national service" means an obligation incurred for financial assistance during undergraduate or graduate education, for internship or residency training provided by the Armed Forces Services of the United States, or for compulsory national service required by an Act of Congress.

17. "Postgraduate medical training" includes internships, residencies, and fellowships that fulfill the requirements for certifications/licensure by the corresponding Council/Board on Graduate Education of Allopathic Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine or Dentistry in the specialty. Postgraduate medical training for Optometric students includes postdoctoral residencies and fellowships affiliated with and administered by a professional Optometry school. Postgraduate medical training for veterinary graduates includes one-year internships with a practicing veterinarian and/or internships, residencies, and fellowships that prepare the practitioners for certification(s) by the corresponding Council Board of veterinary medicine in the specialty.

18. "Primary health care" means general or family practice of medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general dentistry and obstetrics and gynecology.

19. "Repayment period" means the period of time following completion of professional education or upon withdrawal from school, post-graduate training, and obligated national service required by an Act of Congress, commencing six (6) months after completion of professional education and continuing ten (10) years.

20. "Return service" means employment in a practice that qualifies the loan recipient for forgiveness of any portion of the indebtedness.

21. "Tuition differential" means the difference between the nonresident tuition at the institution being attended by the contract student and the tuition charged the contract student for each year of attendance as a contract student.

22. "Underserved group" means an underserved population group in the State receiving insufficient primary health care or dental services as determined by the Commissioner of Health and Human Services. Such a designation may be limited to a geographic area of the State or to a specific practice location in the discretion of the Commissioner of Health and Human Services.

23. "Underserved specialty" means a medical specialty in which there are insufficient practitioners either throughout the State or within a designated geographic area of the State, which may be a specific practice location, as determined by the Commissioner of Health and Human Services.