(1) The state’s highest priority for sponsorship is Primary Care Physicians practicing in HPSAs at outpatient ambulatory care sites in rural communities, as defined in Florida Statutes § 381.0406, and serving a Medicaid patient volume of 30% or greater.
    (2) Applicants not practicing in the highest priority will be prioritized according to specialty (primary care over Specialists), HPSA score, practice location (rural over urban), percent of patients served by Medicaid and sliding fee scale, and practice type (ambulatory outpatient care practices over safety net hospitals and critical access hospitals, followed by all other types of inpatient care facilities).
    (3) The Department will sponsor applicants based on these priorities.
    (4) If there are applications that have equal priorities for the last available slot(s), the application(s) will be re-evaluated based on the aforementioned priorities, and if there are still applications that are equal, the State Surgeon General, or designee, will select the final applicant(s).
    (5) If the State Surgeon General determines that there is a Critical Shortage, Department staff will forward to the State Surgeon General (or their designee) all applications deemed complete for the specified specialty and/or in the specified geographic location, for the State Surgeon General’s (or designee’s) determination of sponsorship. These applications will take precedent, superseding all other priority criteria, with the remainder of the available slots being filled based on the priority criteria listed in subsection (1).
Rulemaking Authority Florida Statutes § 381.4018(3). Law Implemented Florida Statutes § 381.4018. History-New 8-12-21.