(a) “Mississippi qualified health center” means a public or nonprofit entity that provides comprehensive primary care services that:

(i) Has a community board of directors, the majority of whom are users of such centers;

(ii) Accepts all patients that present themselves despite their ability to pay and uses a sliding-fee-schedule for payments; and

(iii) Serves a designated medically underserved area or population, as provided in Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act.

(b) “Uninsured or medically indigent patient” means a patient receiving services from a Mississippi qualified health center who is not eligible for Medicaid, Medicare or any other type of governmental reimbursement for health-care costs or receiving third-party payments via an employer.

(c) “Department” means the State Department of Health.

(d) “Primary care” means the basic entry level of health care provided by health-care practitioners or nonphysician health-care practitioners, which is generally provided in an outpatient setting.

(e) “Medically underserved area or population” means an area designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an area with a shortage of professionals, health services or a population group designated by the secretary as having a shortage of those services.

(f) “Service grant” means a grant by the department to a Mississippi qualified health center in accordance with this chapter.

(g) “Program” means the Mississippi Qualified Health Center Grant Program established in this chapter.