Bill Text: MS SB2302 | 2013 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Rural Physicians Scholarship Program; remove limitation on number of students admitted each year.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2013-04-16 - Approved by Governor [SB2302 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-SB2302-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Kirby, Blount, Browning, Burton, Butler (38th), Carmichael, Chassaniol, Clarke, Collins, Doty, Fillingane, Gandy, Hopson, Horhn, Jackson (11th), Jackson (32nd), Jolly, Jones, Jordan, Lee, Montgomery, Moran, Parker, Parks, Simmons (12th), Simmons (13th), Sojourner, Stone, Tindell, Tollison, Ward, Watson, Wiggins, Wilemon
Senate Bill 2302
(As Sent to Governor)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-144-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE MAXIMUM LIMITATION ON THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO MAY BE ADMITTED TO THE MISSISSIPPI RURAL PHYSICIANS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM EACH YEAR AND PROVIDE THAT NOT LESS THAN A CERTAIN NUMBER OF STUDENTS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE PROGRAM EACH YEAR; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-144-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-144-7. (1) The commission shall develop and implement policies and procedures designed to recruit, identify and enroll undergraduate students who demonstrate necessary interest, commitment, aptitude and academic achievement to pursue careers as family physicians or other generalist physicians in rural or medically underserved areas of Mississippi, and to develop and implement the programs designed to foster successful entry of participants into medical school, completion of medical school, enrollment into and completion of family medicine or other generalist residency, and establishment and maintenance of a career in family medicine or other generalist specialty in a rural or underserved area of Mississippi.
(2) The commission shall have the authority through use of generally applicable definitions, to designate an area of the state as underserved or rural.
(3) The commission, in conjunction with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, shall have the authority to provide students selected for scholarship funding with faculty mentors and other programs designed to enhance the students' likelihood of admission to the medical school. The commission and the University of Mississippi Medical Center will develop coursework that will provide scholarship students with the skills necessary for sustained and successful medical practice in rural Mississippi.
(4) Each applicant for admission to the program must submit an application to the commission that conforms to requirements established by the commission.
(5) In selecting participants for the program, the board may only accept an applicant if his or her academic record and other characteristics, if given consideration by the University of Mississippi School of Medicine Admissions Committee, would be considered credible and competitive.
(6) An applicant for the program may be admitted only upon a majority vote of the members of the commission.
(7) * * * Not less than fifteen (15)
students will be admitted to the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship
Program each year, * * * provided that there are
fifteen (15) or more qualified applicants for the program.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.
