Colorado Rural Health-care Workforce Initiative

C.R.S. tit. 23, art. 76.5

in effect

C.R.S. § 23-76.5-101 Definitions

23-76.5-101. Definitions. As used in this article 76.5, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Health-care professional" means a physician, physician assistant, physical therapist, nurse, including nurse practitioner, pharmacist, dentist, professional counselor, psychologist, social worker, or marriage and family therapist who is registered, certified, or licensed pursuant to title 12 and who is subject to credentialing. "Health-care professional" also includes a public health professional who is not required to be registered, certified, or licensed pursuant to state law. (2) "Health-care professionals rural track" or "rural track" means a health-care professionals rural track or program established by an institution pursuant to section 23-76.5-102. (3) "Initiative" means the Colorado rural health-care workforce initiative established in this article 76.5. (4) "Institution of higher education" or "institution" means state institutions as defined in section 23-18-102 (10)(a), local district colleges, and area technical colleges. (5) "Preceptor" means a health-care professional who is registered, certified, or licensed, as appropriate, pursuant to title 12 who assumes the responsibility of teaching, supervising, and evaluating a student seeking a degree in a health-care profession discipline as part of the student's clinical training and education in a rural or frontier county. (6) "Rural or frontier county" means a county in Colorado designated by the state office of rural health, known as the Colorado rural health center, as a rural or frontier county. (7) "Rural program office" means the office that administers the university of Colorado's school of medicine's rural program at the health sciences center campus.

C.R.S. § 23-76.5-102 Colorado rural health-care workforce initiative - institution health-care professionals rural tracks

23-76.5-102. Colorado rural health-care workforce initiative - institution health-care professionals rural tracks. (1) There is established the Colorado rural health-care workforce initiative to expand the number of health-care professionals practicing in Colorado's rural or frontier counties. (2) As part of the initiative, an institution of higher education may establish a health-care professionals rural track, or expand an existing rural track, that meets the criteria described in subsection (3) of this section, within any specified health-care professional credential or degree program offered at the institution. On or before August 1 of each fiscal year in which an institution receives funding for a rural track, the institution shall submit to the rural program office a written plan describing how the institution intends to use the funding to meet the requirements for a rural track described in subsection (3) of this section. (3) Subject to available appropriations, in operating a rural track, an institution shall: (a) Conduct an outreach campaign to promote knowledge of and interest in rural health-care careers, inform students and prospective students of the initiative, and identify potential student applicants; (b) Prioritize admission to the institution and set aside seats in its health-care professional education program for students in the rural track; (c) Award scholarships to students in the rural track, as described in subsection (6) of this section; (d) Offer didactic curriculum that the rural program office develops in collaboration with other institutions that operate a rural track related to practicing the health-care discipline in rural or frontier counties to students in the rural track; (e) Identify rural or frontier counties in which students may accomplish their clinical training and establish relationships between students and health-care professionals in rural or frontier counties who can serve as preceptors; (f) Provide instructional support and administrative resources for preceptors; and (g) Place students for a significant duration in rural or frontier counties for clinical instruction and training of significant depth from a preceptor, which placement may be in collaboration with the rural program office and other participating programs in the initiative. (4) An institution that receives funding for a rural track shall report to the rural program office information about the rural track requested by the rural program office for the purpose of preparing the report described in section 23-76.5-104. (5) An institution may use the money appropriated for its rural track pursuant to section 23-76.5-105 for the following: (a) Total or partial compensation for one or more faculty or staff to develop the rural track and to operate the rural track in a manner that meets the requirements listed in subsection (3) of this section; (b) The cost of housing for students for all or part of the duration of the students' clinical instruction and training in a rural or frontier county; (c) Training preceptors who practice in rural or frontier counties to provide personalized clinical instruction or training to rural track students; and (d) Providing scholarships to students in the rural track, as described in subsection (6) of this section. (6) (a) An institution that operates a rural track shall award scholarships to students participating in the rural track who commit in writing to living and working as a health-care professional in a rural or frontier county for two years after completing education and training. An institution shall use forty percent of the funding received for the rural track to award scholarships. The institution may determine the amount of each scholarship based on the scholarship applicant's demonstrated financial need and demonstrated commitment to working as a health-care professional in a rural or frontier county. ontier county for two years after completing education and training. An institution shall use forty percent of the funding received for the rural track to award scholarships. The institution may determine the amount of each scholarship based on the scholarship applicant's demonstrated financial need and demonstrated commitment to working as a health-care professional in a rural or frontier county. (b) A student who fails to fulfill the commitment to work in a rural or frontier county after accepting a scholarship shall remit the full amount of the scholarship to the institution that awarded the scholarship. Each institution that operates a rural track is responsible for developing a process for determining whether a student fulfills the commitment and for recovering scholarship money when necessary. An institution that recovers scholarship money pursuant to this subsection (6)(b) shall use the money for any permissible use described in subsection (3) of this section. (c) Receiving a scholarship described in this subsection (6) does not affect the student's eligibility for the Colorado health service corps described in part 5 of article 1.5 of title 25 or for the dental loan repayment program described in article 23 of title 25.

C.R.S. § 23-76.5-103 Initiative administrative and education support - university of Colorado school of medicine rural program

23-76.5-103. Initiative administrative and education support - university of Colorado school of medicine rural program. (1) The rural program office shall provide assistance to the institutions establishing and operating a rural track. The rural program office shall: (a) Provide guidance to an institution regarding recruiting and admitting students committed to working in rural areas; (b) Assist an institution with identifying rural or frontier counties in which students may accomplish their clinical training and establishing relationships between students and health-care professionals in rural or frontier counties who can serve as preceptors; (c) Facilitate, arrange, or advise an institution about arranging housing for students receiving clinical instruction and training in a rural or frontier county; (d) Develop, in collaboration with institutions that operate a rural track, didactic curriculum related to practicing in rural or frontier counties and provide the curriculum without charge to each institution that operates a rural track; and (e) Provide any other technical or administrative assistance that may benefit an institution that is establishing or operating a rural track. (2) (a) The rural program office shall develop metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative and rural tracks, annually evaluate the initiative and rural tracks, and create the report described in section 23-76.5-104. (b) The rural program office may collaborate with the Colorado area health education centers, the department of public health and environment, a statewide organization of hospitals, and the Colorado rural health center to assess unmet rural community health-care priority needs, collect data to support the assessment, and make recommendations to the general assembly for funding to support adding more schools, programs, and health-care professionals to meet that need. The rural program office may include the recommendations in its annual report.

C.R.S. § 23-76.5-104 Initiative reporting

23-76.5-104. Initiative reporting. (1) On or before November 1, 2023, and on or before November 1 each year thereafter, the rural program office shall submit a report to the house of representatives education committee and the senate education committee, or their successor committees, concerning the initiative. The report must include: (a) Information about each institution's health-care professionals rural tracks, the number of students enrolled in each rural track, the number of students who have completed each rural track and are practicing in a rural or frontier county, and any other relevant data and information about the initiative; (b) The rural program office's analysis of the effectiveness of the initiative and rural tracks; and (c) The allocation formula developed pursuant to section 23-76.5-105 (2)(c). (2) The report may include recommendations for legislative changes to the initiative, including recommendations for expanding the initiative.

C.R.S. § 23-76.5-105 Initiative funding - fee-for-service contracts

23-76.5-105. Initiative funding - fee-for-service contracts. (1) Subject to available appropriations, the department of higher education shall enter into a limited purpose fee-for-service contract with the university of Colorado health sciences center pursuant to section 23-18-308 to provide funding for the rural program office in the department of family medicine to carry out the office's duties described in section 23-76.5-103. The funding for the rural program office may be included in a single fee-for-service contract with the university of Colorado health sciences center pursuant to subsection (2) of this section. (2) (a) Subject to available appropriations, the department of higher education shall enter into a limited purpose fee-for-service contract with the governing boards of each of the following institutions, except for Colorado mountain college, for allocation to each program or institution listed in this subsection (2) to establish or expand an existing rural track pursuant to this article 76.5: (I) Adams state university, in its nursing program; (II) Colorado Mesa university, in its nursing program; (III) The Colorado school of public health, in its master of public health program; (IV) Colorado state university - Pueblo, in its school of nursing; (V) Metropolitan state university of Denver, in its nursing program; (VI) The university of Colorado, in the following programs or schools: (A) At the health sciences center campus, in its school of dental medicine and in the rural program of its doctor of medicine program in the school of medicine; (B) At the Colorado Springs campus, in its nursing program; and (C) At the health sciences center campus, in its physician assistants program in the school of medicine; (VII) The university of northern Colorado, in its school of nursing; (VIII) Western Colorado university, in its master of behavioral science in rural community health program; (IX) Colorado mountain college, in its nursing program; (X) Fort Lewis college, in its nursing program operated in agreement with the university of Colorado nursing program; and (XI) At the following institutions governed by the state board for community colleges and occupational education: (A) Morgan community college, in its nursing program; and (B) Trinidad state college, in its nursing program. (b) Repealed. (c) Subject to available appropriations, the department of higher education may enter into a limited purpose fee-for-service contract with the board of regents of the university of Colorado for allocation to each program or institution listed in subsection (2)(a) of this section to expand an existing rural track program pursuant to this article 76.5. The rural program office, in collaboration with the institutions, shall develop a formula based on data that documents the program's or institution's fulfillment of the requirements specified in section 23-76.5-102 for the department of higher education to use to make allocations to a program or institution pursuant to this subsection (2)(c). When developing the allocation formula, the rural program office shall consider: (I) The percentage of money dedicated to direct student support in the form of scholarships and rural housing assistance during rural practical experience; (II) The number of students enrolled in each rural track program; (III) The length of study for the rural track program; (IV) The tuition expenses for the rural track program; (V) The amount of rural curriculum provided to students; (VI) The rural practical experience provided to students; (VII) The teaching development provided to volunteer rural preceptors; and (VIII) The number of graduates who enter rural practice. (3) Any money not expended or encumbered from any appropriation at the end of any fiscal year remains available for expenditure for the purpose of this section in the next fiscal year without further appropriation.

Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-23.docxFetched: 10/6/2026