1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that applications submitted under this program be prioritized by the Department of State Health Services (department) to the areas of greatest need and that the department consider relative specialty need as well, adhering to federal and state legislation (Health and Safety Code, §12.0127), therefore the Texas Conrad 30 program will identify priorities for waiver recommendations for the coming year, and publish them on the Texas Conrad 30 website at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chpr/j1info.shtm, prior to May 1 of each year.

2. (b) The following criteria will be applied in prioritizing applications for waiver recommendations:

   1. (1) regular applications may be considered and approved before some or all flexible applications are considered;
   2. (2) some flexible applications may be approved based on considerations of the date the application is received by the department;
   3. (3) flexible applications may be considered only if there are less than 30 regular applications;
   4. (4) the number of flexible applications approved will be limited to no more than the number allowed by federal or state law but may be less than the number allowed by federal law;
   5. (5) the needs of medically underserved areas will always be of importance in establishing the department's priorities; and
   6. (6) the department will operate the program to conform to federal law as it may be amended.

Source Note:The provisions of this §13.1 adopted to be effective February 22, 2009, 34 TexReg 1063.