E Relating to health; establishing a student nurse recruitment and retention program for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented students, requiring the higher education services office to periodically select a certain number of schools, colleges or programs of nursing for participation purposes, specifying certain nursing program selection criteria and location requirements and requiring HESO to establish an application process, specifying a grant limit and providing for distribution, requiring money not used by the programs to be returned to the office for redistribution; expanding the summer health care interns program to nursing facilities and post-secondary summer health care intern eligibility to students in health care training programs and eliminating certain costs payment restrictions; increasing participation in the loan forgiveness program for nurses agreeing to practice in nursing homes or intermediate care facilities for persons with mental retardation or related conditions (ICF MR), requiring a certain percentage of accepted applicants to agree to practice outside the metropolitan area, extending the maximum participation duration limit and increasing the maximum loan amount; requiring the commissioner of health to establish and administer a rural nursing career scholarship program, specifying applicant eligibility requirements and a scholarship limit and providing for annual scholarship renewals, imposing a penalty for nonfulfillment of the service commitment; establishing a public school nurse education account in the general fund, requiring the commissioner to use money from the account to establish a loan forgiveness program for public school nurses, specifying eligibility requirements and loan forgiveness conditions, imposing a penalty for nonfulfillment of the service commitment; establishing a nursing grant program under the authority of the commissioner for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented students entering or enrolled in educational programs leading to licensure as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) or registered nurse (RN) in a program of advanced nursing education, specifying student eligibility requirements and grant limits, requiring coordination with HESO for a grant priority to students attending nursing programs participating in the recruitment and retention program; requiring commissioner grants to communities and regions to plan and implement responses to local health care issues, specifying eligibility requirements and certain grant limits, requiring grantee periodic progress reports on the planning and implementation process; authorizing and providing for the commissioner of human services to increase medical assistance (MA) operating payment rates for nursing facilities to increase the availability of employer sponsored health care coverage for facility employees; requiring the commissioner to study and make recommendations to the legislature by a certain date on loan forgiveness and related programs to satisfy the demand for health care workers(je, ja)