As used in the Health Professional Loan Repayment Act:

A. "department" means the higher education department;

B. "health professional" means a primary care physician, optometrist, podiatrist, physician's assistant, dentist, nurse, member of an allied health profession as defined in the Allied Health Student Loan for Service Act [Chapter 21, Article 22C NMSA 1978] or a licensed or certified health professional as determined by the department;

C. "loan" means a grant of money to defray the costs incidental to a health education, under a contract between the federal government or a commercial lender and a health professional, requiring either repayment of principal and interest or repayment in services;

D. "nurse in advanced practice" means a registered nurse, including a:

(1) certified nurse practitioner, certified registered nurse anesthetist or clinical nurse specialist, authorized pursuant to the Nursing Practice Act [Chapter 61, Article 3 NMSA 1978] to function beyond the scope of practice of professional registered nursing; or

(2) certified nurse-midwife licensed by the department of health; and

E. "osteopathic primary care physician" means an osteopathic physician licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Medicine Act with specialty training in family medicine, general internal medicine, obstetrics, gynecology or general pediatrics.

History: Laws 1995, ch. 144, § 18; 2017, ch. 91, § 1; 2019, ch. 68, §1.

The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, defined "osteopathic primary care physician" as used in the Health Professional Loan Repayment Act; and added Subsection E.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, defined "nurse in advanced practice" as the term is used in the Health Professional Loan Repayment Act, and made technical changes; in Subsection A, deleted "'commission'" and added "'department'", after "means the", deleted "commission on", and after "higher education", added "department"; in Subsection B, after "as determined by the", deleted "commission" and added "department"; and added Subsection D.