1998 Minnesota Statutes

     144.1497 Rural clinical sites for nurse practitioner 
  education. 

    Subdivision 1.    Definition.  For purposes of this 
 section, "rural" means any area of the state outside of the 
 counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and 
 Washington, and outside the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, 
 Rochester, and St. Cloud. 

    Subd. 2.    Establishment.  A grant program is 
 established under the authority of the commissioner to provide 
 grants to colleges or schools of nursing located in Minnesota 
 that operate programs of study designed to prepare registered 
 nurses for advanced practice as nurse practitioners. 

    Subd. 3.    Program goals.  Colleges and schools of 
 nursing shall use grants received to provide rural students with 
 increased access to programs of study for nurse practitioners, 
 by: 

    (1) developing rural clinical sites; 

    (2) allowing students to remain in their rural communities 
 for clinical rotations; and 

    (3) providing faculty to supervise students at rural 
 clinical sites. 

 The overall goal of the grant program is to increase the number 
 of graduates of nurse practitioner programs who work in rural 
 areas of the state. 

    Subd. 4.    Responsibility of nursing programs.  (a) 
 Colleges or schools of nursing interested in participating in 
 the grant program must apply to the commissioner, according to 
 the policies established by the commissioner.  Applications 
 submitted by colleges or schools of nursing must include a 
 detailed proposal for achieving the goals listed in subdivision 
 3, a plan for encouraging sufficient applications from rural 
 applicants to meet the requirements of paragraph (b), and any 
 additional information required by the commissioner. 

    (b) Each college or school of nursing, as a condition of 
 accepting a grant, shall make at least 25 percent of the 
 openings in each nurse practitioner entering class available to 
 applicants who live in rural areas and desire to practice as a 
 nurse practitioner in rural areas.  This requirement is 
 effective beginning with the fall 1994 entering class and 
 remains in effect for each biennium thereafter for which a 
 college or school of nursing is awarded a grant renewal.  The 
 commissioner may exempt colleges or schools of nursing from this 
 requirement if the college or school can demonstrate, to the 
 satisfaction of the commissioner, that the nurse practitioner 
 program did not receive enough applications or acceptance 
 letters from qualified rural applicants to meet the requirement. 

    (c) Colleges or schools of nursing participating in the 
 grant program shall report to the commissioner on their program 
 activity as requested by the commissioner.  

    Subd. 5.    Responsibilities of commissioner.  (a) The 
 commissioner shall establish an application process for 
 interested colleges and schools of nursing, and shall require 
 colleges and schools of nursing to submit grant applications to 
 the commissioner by November 1, 1993.  The commissioner may 
 award up to two grants for the biennium ending June 30, 1995.  

    (b) In selecting grant recipients, the commissioner shall 
 consider: 

    (1) the likelihood that an applicant's grant proposal will 
 be successful in achieving the program goals listed in 
 subdivision 3; 

    (2) the potential effectiveness of the college's or 
 school's plan to encourage applications from rural applicants; 
 and 

    (3) the academic quality of the college's or school's 
 program of education for nurse practitioners. 

    (c) The commissioner shall notify grant recipients of an 
 award by December 1, 1993, and shall disburse the grants by 
 January 1, 1994.  The commissioner may renew grants if a college 
 or school of nursing demonstrates that satisfactory progress has 
 been made during the past biennium toward achieving the goals 
 listed in subdivision 3. 

    HIST: 1993 c 345 art 11 s 9; 1995 c 212 art 3 s 57,59