V.Z. – Medical Education Reimbursement Program – 10-2022
V.Z. – Medical Education Reimbursement Program
1. General
Except as otherwise provided in this policy, the Board of Education delegates responsibility to the University of Idaho to administer the program authorized in Section 33- 3731, Idaho Code.
2. Medical education fellowship means a planned learning experience for the graduate
of a residency or a board- certified physician in a focused area of clinical practice, education, or research.
3. For repayment purposes, t he Office of the State Board of Education (“OSBE”) shall
be responsible for determining the state's financial obligation in supporting students’ medical education, and shall establish an amortized repayment schedule.
The state’s financial obligation shall be calculated as follows . The four-year average of the state General Fund appropriation for Trustee and Benefit Payments for the four (4) years the graduate attended the program, divided by the average number of total seats funded during those same four (4) years. The quotient of this equation is multiplied by four (4). The product of that equation equals the total repayment obligation. For example, if the four-year average appropriation for WWAMI was $4.8 million and the average number of seats funded during that same time was 160, then the state’s financial obligation would be $30,000. The graduate’s repayment amount would be $120,000.
4. Reimbursed funds will be used by OSBE for the costs of administering and enforcing
Section 33-3731, Idaho Code, and for incentive grants to be awarded to licensed physicians who practice medicine in Idaho. These funds will be deposited in a medical education reimbursement fund, which is separate and apart from the rural physician incentive fund established in Section 33- 3723, Idaho Code.
Incentive grants shall be awarded by OSBE based on the following criteria:
- Practice in a mental or primary care Health Professional Shortage Area as designated by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare; and
- Practice in the areas of family medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, or psychiatry.