ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
rural health providers; tax
credit
Provides
a scaled individual income tax credit up to $2000 for rural health care
professionals.
In
1993, a House Interim Rural Health Care Task Force visited various communities
around the state, including Ajo, Bisbee, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Kearny, Kingman,
Nogales, Parker and Yuma to develop health policy recommendations. The Task Force identified four general
insufficiencies in these geographic areas: (1) a shortage of primary care
health professionals; (2) a shortage of health care facilities; (3) a lack of
transportation method; and (4) a lack of educational programs for rural
communities to assist health care professionals.
Currently,
the following programs attempt to reduce the barriers to receiving health care
services in rural areas of Arizona:
a. primary
care services: allocates tobacco tax revenue from the medically needy
account for grants for equipment and salaries or to expand a nonprofit
community based primary care clinic and expand primary care services in
medically underserved areas.
b. qualifying
community health center program: allocates tobacco tax revenue from the
medically needy account for grants for qualifying community health centers to
provide sliding fee scale primary care services to uninsured Arizona residents
under 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
c. clinic construction program: allocates
tobacco tax monies from the medically needy account for matching grants to
construct, expand or renovate primary care clinics. (However, this program was
not continued in legislation during the 2000 legislative session.)
d. primary
care provider loan repayment program: uses state general fund monies for
loan repayment of educational-related expenses to qualifying health care
professionals who contract with the state to provide primary care services in
medically underserved areas for a minimum of two years.
e. rural
private primary care provider loan repayment program: uses tobacco tax
monies from the medically needy account for loan repayment of
educational-related expenses to certain health care professionals who contract
with the state to provide sliding fee scale primary care services for medically
uninsured individuals.
f. J-1
visa waiver program: allows foreign trained physicians to practice in the
U.S. in exchange for working three years in an underserved area.
g. national
health service corps: provides for assignment of scholarship recipients to
work in federally designated underserved areas and provides for loan repayment
to qualifying health care professionals to work in a federally designated
underserved area. Each of these programs
requires recipients to a commitment of at least two years.
Senate Bill 1040 attempts to
provide incentives to health care providers to locate in medically underserved
areas of this state by offering a scaled individual income tax credit up to
$2000 for rural health care professionals.
The scale is as follows:
|
Profession |
Tax Credit for a minimum of 20-32 hours per week* |
Tax credit for a minimum of 32 hours per week* |
|
Primary Care Physicians |
$1000 |
$2000 |
|
Dentists |
$1000 |
$2000 |
|
Optometrists |
$1000 |
$0 |
|
Mid-Level Providers |
$500 |
$1000 |
*Tax credit contingent upon a minimum of 48 working
weeks per taxable year.
According
to information provided by the Department of Health Services and Joint
Legislative Budget Committee staff estimates, the potential impact to the state
general fund beginning in FY 2001-2002 would be $776,900, assuming 85 percent
participation; assuming 100 percent participation, the impact would be
$914,000.
Provisions
1. Makes available, beginning in the tax year 2002, an income tax credit up to $2000 for primary care physicians, dentists, optometrists and mid-level providers that have practiced during the preceding tax year in rural and federally designated health professional shortage areas.
2. Directs that the amount of the tax credit be based on the position of the medical professional and the amount time spent in practice.
3. Defines the following terms:
a)
“Dentist”
as a licensed person who has completed an accredited educational program and is
practicing general dentistry.
b)
“Mid-Level
Provider” as a physician assistant, a registered nurse practitioner or a qualified nurse midwife.
c)
“Optometrist”
as a licensed person who is engaged in the general practice of optometry.
d)
“Primary
Care Physician” as a licensed person who has completed an accredited residency
program and practices in obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine,
family practice or general practice.
4. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 11, 2001