New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 9A - HIGHER EDUCATION
Chapter 16 - PRIMARY CARE PRACTITIONER LOAN REDEMPTION PROGRAM
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 9A:16-1.2 - Definitions
Current through Register Vol. 57, No. 6, March 17, 2025
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Approved site" means a site located within a State-designated underserved area or a health professional shortage area, or a clinic which is part of the extramural network of dental clinics established by the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine of the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, or a site that has been determined by the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, in consultation with the Department of Health, to serve medically underserved populations according to criteria determined by the Authority, including:
1. Sites must provide universal access to populations served regardless of insurance coverage;
2. Non-discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender or national origin;
3. Sites must accept Medicare, Medicaid, Medicaid Managed Care plans, unless they provide services free of charge;
4. Sites must establish a sliding fee scale for patients that fall under 250 percent of the Federal poverty level;
5. Sites must demonstrate that they provide services to an underserved population based on the percentage of medically underserved patients served in the county; and
6. Sites must submit quarterly service reports.
"Authority" means the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health or his or her designee.
"Eligible qualifying loan expenses" means qualifying student loans, including interest paid or due on such loans, that a program participant has obtained to cover his or her cost of attendance at an institution of undergraduate medical, dental, or other primary care professional education.
"Executive Director" means the Executive Director of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority or his or her designee.
"Health professional shortage area" means an urban or rural area, a population group or a public or non-profit private medical or dental facility or other public facility which the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines has a health professional shortage pursuant to section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 254e).
"Primary care" means the practice of family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general obstetrics, gynecology, pediatric dentistry, general dentistry, public health dentistry, psychiatry, and any other areas of medicine or dentistry defined as such by the Commissioner of Health. Primary care also includes the practice of a nurse-practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, and physician assistant as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations at 42 CFR Part 62.
"Primary care practitioner" means a New Jersey State-licensed or certified health care professional who has obtained a degree in allopathic or osteopathic medicine, dentistry, or another primary care profession at an undergraduate institution of medical, dental, or other primary care professional education, as applicable.
"Program" means the Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:71C-33.
"Program participant" means a primary care practitioner who contracts with the authority to engage in the clinical practice of primary care at an approved site in exchange for the redemption of eligible qualifying loan expenses provided under the program.
"Qualifying loans" means a government or commercial student loan for the actual costs paid for tuition and reasonable education and living expenses relating to the obtaining of a degree in allopathic or osteopathic medicine, dentistry, or another primary care profession.
"Resident of the State of New Jersey" means an individual who is currently living in New Jersey, or intends to live in New Jersey as evidenced by making his or her home in New Jersey and not for temporary purposes. Temporary absences from the State, with subsequent returns to the State or intent to return when the purpose of the absences has been accomplished, do not interrupt continuity of residence.
"State designated underserved area" means a geographic area in this State which has been ranked by the Commissioner of Health on the basis of health status and economic indicators as reflecting a health professional shortage pursuant to the criteria established in N.J.S.A. 18A:71C-35.
"Total and permanent disability" means a physical or mental disability that is expected to continue indefinitely or result in death and renders a participant in the program unable to perform the person's service obligation, as determined by the Executive Director or his or her designee.
"Undergraduate medical, dental, or other professional primary care professional education" means the period of time between entry into medical school, dental school, or other primary care professional training program and the award of a degree in allopathic or osteopathic medicine, dentistry, or another primary care profession, respectively.
