R434-40-8. Approved Site Determination

(1) The department shall approve a site based on a site-submitted application. (2) To determine an approved site that is not a nursing school, the department may use criteria, including: (a) the percentage of the population with an income under 200% of the federal poverty level; (b) the percentage of the geriatric population; (c) the percentage of the population under 18 years of age; (d) the distance to the nearest geriatric, health care, or mental health professional and any barrier to accessing those services; (e) the ability of the site to provide support facilities and services required for an applicant to practice in the applicant's specialty; (f) the financial stability of the site; (g) the percent of uninsured patients served or the percent of patients publicly insured by government programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP; (h) the site's policy and practice to provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay; and (i) any other information provided by the site demonstrating support for the program's purposes as described in Section 26B-4-702. (3) To determine an approved nursing school site, the department may use criteria, including: (a) a demonstrated shortage of nursing educator faculty; (b) the number of degrees sought by students; (c) the number of students denied for each degree sought; (d) the residency of students; (e) the ability of the nursing school to provide support facilities and services to train for the requested position; (f) the faculty to student ratio, including the ratio of clinical and classroom instructors; (g) the average class size for each degree offered by the school; (h) the school's plans to expand enrollment; (i) the current and projected staffing for the type of instructor requested; (j) the sources and stability of funding to hire and support the prospective instructor; (k) the distance to the nearest nursing school; and (l) any other criteria that the site can provide to demonstrate support to the program as described in Section 26B-4-702. (4) The department may give preference to sites that provide letters of support from the area served by the prospective employer, including letters from any: (a) business leader; (b) citizen; (c) county or civic leader; (d) hospital administrator; (e) local chamber of commerce; (f) local health department; and (g) practicing health care professional. (5) The department may give preference to a site: (a) located in a service area designated by the United States Health Resources and Services Administration as having a health care professional shortage; and (b) that requests one of the following medical specialties: (i) family practice; (ii) internal medicine; (iii) obstetrics and gynecology; (iv) pediatrics; (v) mental health; (vi) dental hygiene; or (vii) forensic pathology. (6) To be considered for approval, a site must offer a salary and benefit package competitive with salary and benefit packages offered to similar healthcare professionals within the service area. (7) Each approved site employing a loan repayment grant recipient shall provide education loan repayment assistance to the recipient: (a) in an amount equal to 20% of the loan repayment grant amount awarded by the department to the recipient; and (b) in accordance with the schedule provided in the site's written agreement with the recipient.