Enhances enforcement of primary care physician loan and scholarship programs by authorizing the commissioner of health to initiate proceedings to suspend the license of a loan repayment award or scholarship recipient who has failed to provide the required primary care service in an underserved area; also authorizes the commissioner to report the amount of such award or scholarship to the department of taxation and finance as income of the recipient.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1318
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enhanced enforce-
ment of the primary care physician loan and scholarship programs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 903 of the public health law, as
2 amended by chapter 639 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 4. Within such time as the commissioner shall by regulation provide, a
5 recipient of an award shall have practiced as a primary care physician
6 in an underserved area in the state of New York or, in the case of a
7 recipient of an award after completion of residency training, the recip-
8 ient shall have practiced in an underserved area for that number of
9 months calculated by multiplying by twelve the number of annual awards
10 received by the recipient. If a recipient fails to comply fully with
11 such conditions[,]:
12 (a) the president shall be entitled to receive from such recipient an
13 amount to be determined by the formula:
14 A = 2B(t-s)
15 -----
16 t
17 In which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is
18 the sum of all payments made to the recipient and the interest on such
19 amount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they
20 were loans bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the
21 total number of months in the recipient's period of obligated services;
22 and "s" is the number of months of services actually rendered by the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04278-01-3
S. 1318 2
1 recipient. Any amount which the president is entitled to recover under
2 this subdivision shall become due and shall be paid [within the five-
3 year period beginning on the date] in full upon a determination that the
4 recipient failed to comply with this condition. Any obligation to comply
5 with such provisions shall be canceled upon the death of the recipient.
6 The commissioner [of health] shall promulgate regulations to provide for
7 the waiver or suspension of any financial obligation when compliance
8 would involve extreme hardship;
9 (b) the commissioner shall initiate proceedings for the suspension of
10 the recipient's license to practice medicine in the state of New York;
11 (c) the commissioner shall file a report with the New York state
12 department of taxation and finance indicating the total amount of a
13 recipient's unearned loan repayment award so that such award may be
14 considered income for the purpose of article twenty-two of the tax law.
15 § 2. Section 903 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
16 subdivision 4-a to read as follows:
17 4-a. (a) A recipient of a loan repayment award shall report annually
18 to the New York state higher education services corporation, on forms
19 prescribed by the president, as to the performance of the required
20 services, commencing with the calendar year in which the recipient
21 begins to provide primary care services in an underserved area and
22 continuing until the recipient shall have completed, or until it is
23 determined that he or she shall not be obligated to complete, the
24 required services. If the recipient shall fail to file any report
25 required hereunder within thirty days of written notice to the recipi-
26 ent, mailed to the address shown on the last application for an award or
27 last report filed, whichever is later, the president of the corporation
28 may impose a fine of up to five thousand dollars. The president shall
29 have the discretion to waive the filing of a report, excuse a delay in
30 filing or a failure to file a report, or waive or reduce any fine
31 imposed for good cause shown.
32 (b) In addition to the reporting requirements set forth in paragraph
33 (a) of this subdivision, a recipient of an award shall submit to the
34 department at each biennial registration period provided in subdivision
35 eight of section sixty-five hundred twenty-four of the education law, a
36 report as to the performance of the required services.
37 § 3. Subdivisions 6 and 7 of section 904 of the public health law, as
38 amended by chapter 255 of the laws of 1994, are amended to read as
39 follows:
40 6. If a recipient fails to comply fully with such conditions[,]:
41 (a) the president shall be entitled to receive from such recipient an
42 amount to be determined by the formula:
43 A = 2B(t-s)
44 -----
45 t
46 in which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is
47 the sum of all awards made to the recipient and the interest on such
48 amount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they
49 were loans bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the
50 total number of months in the recipient's period of obligated services;
51 and "s" is the number of months of service actually rendered by the
52 recipient. Any amount which the president is entitled to recover under
53 this [paragraph] subdivision shall become due and shall be paid [within
54 the five-year period beginning on the date] in full upon a determination
55 that the recipient failed to comply with this service condition. Nothing
S. 1318 3
1 in the written agreement shall affect the terms of employment of the
2 individual who shall negotiate, separate and apart from the program, his
3 or her salary and other forms of employment with an agency, institution
4 or a program in which he or she shall be employed. Any obligation to
5 comply with such provisions as outlined in this section shall be
6 canceled upon the death of the recipient. The commissioner shall promul-
7 gate regulations to provide for the waiver or suspension of any finan-
8 cial obligation when compliance would involve extreme hardship;
9 (b) the commissioner shall initiate proceedings for the suspension of
10 the recipient's license to practice medicine in the state of New York;
11 (c) the commissioner shall file a report with the New York state
12 department of taxation and finance indicating the total amount of a
13 recipient's unearned loan repayment award so that such award may be
14 considered income for the purposes of article twenty-two of the tax law.
15 7. (a) A recipient of an award shall report annually to the New York
16 state higher education services corporation, on forms prescribed by the
17 president, as to the performance of the required services, commencing
18 with the calendar year in which the recipient begins to provide primary
19 care services in an underserved area and continuing until the recipient
20 shall have completed, or until it is determined that he or she shall not
21 be obligated to complete, the required services. If the recipient shall
22 fail to file any report required hereunder within thirty days of written
23 notice to the recipient, mailed to the address shown on the last appli-
24 cation for an award or last report filed, whichever is later, the presi-
25 dent of the corporation may impose a fine of up to [one] five thousand
26 dollars. The president shall have the discretion to waive the filing of
27 a report, excuse a delay in filing or a failure to file a report, or
28 waive or reduce any fine imposed for good cause shown.
29 (b) In addition to the reporting requirements set forth in paragraph
30 (a) of this subdivision, a recipient of an award shall submit to the
31 department at each biennial registration period provided in subdivision
32 eight of section sixty-five hundred twenty-four of the education law, a
33 report as to the performance of the required services.
34 § 4. Section 904 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
35 subdivision 9 to read as follows:
36 9. The commissioner, in consultation with the council, shall promul-
37 gate regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions and purposes of
38 this section.
39 § 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
40 it shall have become a law, except that any rule or regulation necessary
41 for the timely implementation of this act shall be promulgated on or
42 before such date.
