Bill 2830

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               2830
Ratification Number:       284
Act Number:                186
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                        Medical and dental loans

(A186, R284, H2830)

AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 7 OF CHAPTERS 111 OF TITLE 59, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO MEDICAL AND DENTAL LOANS, SO AS TO ELIMINATE SCHOLARSHIP REFERENCES, ADD OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY AND CHILD PSYCHIATRY AS APPROVED TRAINING PROGRAMS, TO INCREASE THE LOAN LIMIT FROM SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS TO TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS PER ANNUM, TO REQUIRE A LOAN RECIPIENT TO PRACTICE IN AN ELIGIBLE SERVICE AREA OR LOCATION OF CRITICAL STATE NEED AND TO INCREASE THE PENALTY FOR NOT COMPLYING WITH THE TERMS OF A LOAN.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Medical and dental loans

SECTION 1. Article 7 of Chapter 111 of Title 59 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 478 of 1978, is further amended to read:

"ARTICLE 7

MEDICAL AND DENTAL LOANS

Section 59-111-510. The Department of Health and Environmental Control, hereinafter referred to as 'the Department', shall aid, assist, promote, and administer a fund to be known as 'The South Carolina Medical and Dental Loan Fund' with sums as may be appropriated by the General Assembly.

Section 59-111-520. The Department shall receive and consider all applications for loans made by students who have been legal residents of South Carolina for a period of at least one year immediately preceding their application who desire to become physicians or dentists and who are acceptable for enrollment in any accredited medical school or dental school within the United States and which is approved by the Department. The Department shall make a careful and full investigation of the ability, character, financial needs, and qualifications of each applicant to determine his fitness to become the recipient of each loan. The Department may examine each applicant to assist in determining if he is so qualified. The Department shall consider, during the selection process, the intent of the applicant to practice medicine or dentistry in a predominantly rural area. The Department may grant to each applicant, considered by the Department to be qualified to receive the loan, a loan as herein provided for the purpose of acquiring a medical or dental education upon terms and conditions imposed by the Department pursuant to applicable provisions of this article.

Section 59-111-530. A loan shall not exceed ten thousand dollars per annum, for not exceeding four years, to defray tuition, living expenses, and other school related expenses. The loan must be based upon the condition that the applicant apply for a license to practice medicine, dentistry , or child psychiatry; in South Carolina at the earliest practicable opportunity and that, within six months after the applicant is so licensed to practice, he will engage in the practice of medicine, dentistry, or child psychiatry in a service area within this State which has a ratio of not more than one doctor for each two thousand people or a ratio of not more than one dentist for each six thousand people. However, the practice of child psychiatry is limited only to the Child and Adolescent Unit of the South Carolina State Hospital. The Department shall approve a deferment of the required entry into practice during the time that the applicant is engaged in a residency training program in the field of family practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, child psychiatry, or obstetrics-gynecology. The Department shall annually prepare a list of medical service areas and dental service areas in this State and the ratios of doctors and dentists to the population in each service area, using the population figures of the latest official United States Census and the latest directories of the State Board of Medical Examiners and the State Board of Dentistry.

All areas of the State must be included in the service areas established by the Department. However, the practice of child psychiatry is not subject to the service area requirement and is limited only to the Child and Adolescent Unit at the South Carolina State Hospital. Medical service areas shall have a minimum population of two thousand and dental service areas shall have a minimum population of six thousand and each area shall have at least one town or municipality, whether or not incorporated, which has a population of at least five hundred. The applicant may choose the service area in which he desires to practice if the service area qualifies at the time the recipient initiates his practice. The recipient is required to practice in an eligible service area for one year for each year in which a loan was received. If the applicant receives a loan for four years he is only required to practice in the service area for three years, at the end of which time the loan is considered paid in full. A recipient may practice for the designated period of time in such other locations or assignments which the Board determines meet a critical state need.

Section 59-111-540. Before being granted a loan each applicant shall enter into a contract with the Department, which is considered a contract with the State of South Carolina agreeing to the terms and conditions upon which the loan is granted to him. The contract shall include such terms and provisions as shall carry out the purpose and intent of Section 59-111-530. The contract must be signed by the chairman of the Department, countersigned by the executive secretary of the Department, and signed by the applicant.

Section 59-111-550. The Department may make inquiry of the medical or dental schools which are approved for applicants to attend, and make arrangements and enter into contracts with those institutions for the admission of students granted loans by the Department. The Department, upon proper notice, may cancel any contract made with the institutions.

Section 59-111-560. If the recipient of a loan fails without justifiable cause to practice medicine or dentistry in accordance with the terms of his contract, a penalty for failure to complete the contract must be imposed by the Department which at a minimum shall consist of a demand for the entire amount of the loan or scholarship benefits received plus per annum interest from the date funds were advanced to the recipient at the prevailing prime rate of the largest bank by deposits in South Carolina in effect at the time the funds were advanced plus two percent, and at a maximum shall consist of a demand for three times the entire amount of the loan benefits received, plus interest at a per annum rate equal to the then prevailing prime rate of the largest bank by deposits in South Carolina. The demand as determined by the Department must be mailed to the recipient at his last known address and shall at that time become immediately due and payable. However, where the Department determines that there is justifiable cause for the failure to practice pursuant to the terms of the contract, it may relieve the recipient of the obligation to practice according to the terms of the contract, and shall provide for repayment of the amount received, plus interest at a per annum rate equal to the then prevailing prime rate of the largest bank by deposits in South Carolina on any terms it deems proper.

Upon recommendation and request of the Department the Attorney General shall institute proceedings for the purpose of recovering any amount due the State upon breach of the contract.

Section 59-111-570. The funds appropriated for the purposes of this article and all sums received in repayment of loans must be placed in the State Treasury to the credit of The South Carolina Medical and Dental Loan Fund. Loan payments must be paid out of this fund upon a voucher to the State Comptroller General signed by the chairman and the executive secretary of the Department.

Section 59-111-580. The Department may promulgate reasonable regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this article."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.