Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).

Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and

attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Lujan, A.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/02/02

02/02/06 HB 259

SHORT TITLE Health Professional Loan Program Award Amount SB

ANALYST Williams

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$1,280.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Senate Bill 284

Relates to Appropriations in the General Appropriation Act for Student Financial Aid program at

Higher Education Department

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Endorsed by the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee.

House Bill 259 appropriates $1.28 million from the general fund to the Higher Education De-

partment to expand the health professional loan repayment program to “encourage greater par-

ticipation in the program and increase the number of health professionals serving in rural areas of

the state.”

House Bill 259 – Page

2

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1.28 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall

revert to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Health Professional Loan Repayment Act was established in 1995 to increase the number of

health professionals in underserved areas of the state through an educational loan repayment

program. The program provides for repayment of principal and reasonable interest on loans ob-

tained for health education purposes.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HED notes “this request was not in the list of priority projects submitted to the NMHED and it

was not included in the recommendations for FY07.”

Students must declare an intent to practice as a health professional in areas designed as “under-

served.” Award criteria includes:

•

Amounts depend on location of the practice, applicant total health professional education

indebtedness and characteristics of the practice;

•

Preference for individuals graduating from a New Mexico public, post-secondary educa-

tional institution;

•

Highest priority given to participants in practices in which health profession vacancies

are difficult to fill, practices that require after-hour calls at least every other night and

practices that have heavy obstetrical duties.

Award amounts are capped by the total qualifying education indebtedness of each student.

DOH notes the program could be strengthened by specifying the distribution of awards by pro-

fession to clarify how many additional awards could be made; physicians and/or dentists gener-

ally have higher debt amounts than other health professions.

HPC notes Senate Joint Memorial 37 (2005) found New Mexico’s nursing shortage is expected

to worsen by the year 2020. HPC recommends rural health should be a high priority for the

Higher Education Department as well as increasing the stipend in the loan for service program.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1.

What performance outcomes are available for this program.

AW/mt:nt