SECTIONS 128025-128040 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 128025-128040

128025. For the purpose of this article, "innovative programs of
education in the health professions" means programs for the
development of physicians and surgeons, podiatrists, dentists,
pharmacists, nurses, optometrists, and occupations in the allied
health professions, that emphasize all of the following:
(a) The practice in the community on the part of graduates of the
program.
(b) The utilization of existing teaching resources and clinical
care facilities within the community where the program is located.
(c) The development of curricular mechanisms that allow for
movement from one occupational category to the next, up to and
including the doctor of medicine level.
(d) The training of persons possessing previously acquired health
care skills, for positions of greater responsibility, with an
emphasis upon corpsmen honorably discharged from the military.
(e) The training of persons with little or no formal education but
with a willingness and aptitude to acquire health care skills.
(f) The development of coordination with community health care
facilities to insure quality education and satisfactory employment
opportunities for graduates of the program.

128030. The office, in cooperation with the California
Postsecondary Education Commission, shall administer the program
established pursuant to this article and shall for this purpose,
adopt regulations as it determines are reasonably necessary to carry
out this article.

128035. The office is authorized to make grants, from funds
appropriated by the Legislature for this purpose, to assist
organizations in meeting the cost of special projects to plan,
develop, or establish innovative programs of education in the health
professions, or for research in the various fields related to
education in the health professions, or to develop training for new
types of health professions personnel, or to meet the costs of
planning experimental teaching facilities.
In determining priority of project applications, the office shall
give the highest priority to:
(1) Applicants able to obtain commitments for matching planning
funds from other governmental and private sources.
(2) Applicants who develop a preliminary plan that conforms to the
criteria stated hereinabove for innovative programs of education in
the health sciences.
(3) Applicants that in its judgment are most able to translate a
plan into a feasible program.

128040. (a) The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development
shall report to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2002, on the
feasibility of establishing a California dental loan forgiveness
program utilizing the same general guidelines applicable to the
federal National Health Service Corps State Loan Repayment Program
(42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 254q-1; 42 C.F.R., Part 62, Subpart C (commencing
with Section 62.51)), except as follows:
(1) A dentist shall be eligible to participate in the loan
forgiveness program if he or she provides full-time or half-time
dental services in either of the following:
(A) A dental health professional shortage area (DHPSA),
established pursuant to Section 254e(a) of Title 42 of the United
States Code.
(B) An area of the state where unmet priority needs for dentists
exist as determined by the California Healthcare Workforce Policy
Commission pursuant to Section 128225.
(2) Matching funds to repay a portion of the dentist's outstanding
loan amount shall be required from the practice site areas or from
other private nonprofit sources.
(3) A qualifying practice site shall include a private dental
practice.
(b) (1) The report required under subdivision (a) shall include
all of the following:
(A) A projection of the dentist-to-population ratio for California
in the next decade.
(B) A determination of the future need for dentists and dental
care in underserved communities. The office shall work
collaboratively with organizations that represent providers of dental
services to underserved communities in making this determination.
(C) A report on the utilization by dentists of tuition loan
repayment programs at the federal and state level and identify the
barriers to full utilization of these loan repayment programs.
(D) A report on the projected cost increase of dental school
education at public and private postsecondary educational
institutions.
(E) A report on the implications of administering an additional
program, including a cost analysis.
(2) The report also shall include recommendations on whether a
program described in subdivision (a) should be established and, if
so, suggested funding sources. In making its recommendations, the
office shall consider the impact of the program on access to dental
services in areas of the state that currently have a shortage of
dentists.