1. (a) Application deadlines will be established throughout the fiscal year and will be posted on the program web page. If there are not sufficient funds to award loan repayment assistance for all eligible physicians whose applications are received by the stated deadline, applications shall be ranked according to the following criteria, in priority order:

   1. (1) applications from physicians practicing in HPSAs, in the following priority order:

      1. (A) renewal applications, with first priority assigned to those for primary care;
      2. (B) applications from primary care physicians practicing in rural HPSAs;
      3. (C) applications from primary care physicians practicing in non-rural areas whose HPSA scores reflect the highest degrees of shortage;
   2. (2) initial applications from non-primary care physicians;
2. (b) the first ten applications received each year from eligible physicians serving persons committed to a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department or its successor or persons confined to a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or its successor;

3. (c) applications from primary care physicians who have provided health care services to a designated number of Medicaid or Texas Women's Health Program enrollees, as established annually by methods outlined in the Board's Memorandum of Understanding with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, in the following order of priority:

   1. (1) renewal applications;
   2. (2) applications from physicians practicing in a rural county;
   3. (3) applications from geriatricians;
   4. (4) applications from physicians having the greatest amount of student loan debt.

Source Note:The provisions of this §23.67 adopted to be effective February 22, 2016, 41 TexReg 1231; transferred effective December 15, 2016, as published in the Texas Register November 25, 2016, 41 TexReg 9341.