For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Account” means the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Account established within the Health Professions Education Fund pursuant to this article.

(b) “Foundation” means the Health Professions Education Foundation.

(c) “Medi-Cal threshold languages” means primary languages spoken by limited-English-proficient (LEP) population groups meeting a numeric threshold of 3,000 LEP individuals eligible for Medi-Cal residing in a county, 1,000 LEP individuals eligible for Medi-Cal residing in a single ZIP Code, or 1,500 LEP individuals eligible for Medi-Cal residing in two contiguous ZIP Codes.

(d) “Medically underserved area” means an area defined as a health professional shortage area in Part 5 (commencing with Sec. 5.1) of Subchapter A of Chapter 1 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations or an area of the state where unmet priority needs for physicians exist as determined by the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission pursuant to Section 128225.

(e) “Medically underserved population” means the persons served by the Medi-Cal program, the Healthy Families Program, and uninsured populations.

(f) “Office” means the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).

(g) “Practice setting” means either of the following:

(1) A community clinic as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1204 and subdivision (c) of Section 1206, a clinic owned or operated by a public hospital and health system, or a clinic owned and operated by a hospital that maintains the primary contract with a county government to fulfill the county’s role pursuant to Section 17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, each of which is located in a medically underserved area and at least 50 percent of whose patients are from a medically underserved population.

(2) A medical practice located in a medically underserved area and at least 50 percent of whose patients are from a medically underserved population.

(h) “Primary specialty” means family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics/gynecology.

(i) “Program” means the Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Program.

(j) “Selection committee” means the advisory committee of not more than seven members established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 128551.

(k) “Super-medically underserved area” means an area defined as medically underserved pursuant to subdivision (d) that also meets a heightened criteria of physician shortage as determined by the foundation.

(Added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 339, Sec. 1. (AB 589) Effective January 1, 2013.)