--- title: SB 130. Health; medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program; expand collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb130 cite_as: SB 130, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb130 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb130.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb130/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70087 date: 2025-05-13 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb129.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb131.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 953 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb130.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 130 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-13 last_action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 sponsors: - Mike Hodges - Shawn Still - Ben Watson - Kay Kirkpatrick - Billy Hickman - Rick Townsend text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB130/2025 upstream_id: 1964521 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - medical education funding - rural health care - physician loan repayment - hospital residency programs - health workforce --- # SB 130. Health; medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program; expand ## Text 25 LC 52 0632 Senate Bill 130 By: Senators Hodges of the 3rd, Still of the 48th, Watson of the 1st, Kirkpatrick of the 32nd and Hickman of the 4th AS PASSED A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, re lating to health, so as to1 expand medical education funding and the service cancelable loa n program; to revise2 definitions; to provide for medical education funding to certai n medical organizations3 facilities; to provide for a physician in certain residency or fellowship programs to be eligible4 for the service cancelable loan program; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting5 laws; and for other purposes.6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:7 SECTION 1.8 Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, is amended by revising9 Code Section 31-7-95, relating to funding of medical education provided by hospital10 authorities and designated teaching hospitals, as follows:11 "31-7-95.12 (a) As used in this Code section, the term:13 (1) 'Designated teaching hospital' institution' means either:14 (A) A a teaching hospital operated by other than a hospital authority, which hospital15 agrees to contract with the state to offer or continue to offer a residency or fellowship16 S. B. 130 - 1 - 25 LC 52 0632 program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medi cal Education17 (ACGME), which program has at least one ACGME accredited reside ncy program,18 excluding any stand-alone fellowship program, and which hospital operates a 24 hour,19 seven-day-per-week emergency room open to the public and which hospital files a20 semiannual statistical report consistent with those filed by other state funded tertiary,21 neonatal, obstetrical centers with the Department of Community Health; or22 (B) A medical facility that has a certification number assigned by the federal Centers23 for Medicare and Medicaid Services to health care providers par ticipating in the24 medicare and Georgia Medicaid programs and that agrees to contract with the state to25 offer or continue to offer a residency or fellowship program approved by the ACGME,26 which program has at least one ACGME accredited residency or fellowship program.27 (1.1) 'Fellow' means a physician receiving medical education and training at an ACGME28 accredited fellowship program through a teaching hospital opera ted by a hospital29 authority or designated institution.30 (2) 'Hospital authority' means a hospital authority operating a teaching hospital which31 offers a residency or fellowship program approved by the Accreditation Council for32 Graduate Medical Education.33 (3) 'Resident' means a physician receiving medical education and training at an ACGME34 accredited residency program through a teaching hospital operated by a hospital authority35 or designated teaching hospital institution.36 (b) The General Assembly finds that the major hospital authorities and designated teaching37 hospitals institutions in this state provide a valuable service benefiting the entire state by38 operating teaching hospitals and medical facilities which provide necessary medical39 education and training for physicians; this service is provided through residency and40 fellowship programs offered by these teaching hospitals and medical facil ities. By the41 provision of residency and fellowship programs operated by state teaching hospitals, the42 state has recognized its responsibility to fund the cost of training physicians; and it is the43 S. B. 130 - 2 - 25 LC 52 0632 purpose of this Code section to recognize that the state has a similar responsibility when44 the medical education and training are provided by teaching hospitals operated by hospital45 authorities or by designated teaching hospitals institutions.46 (c) For each resident or fellow receiving medical education and training through a teaching47 hospital operated by a hospital authority or designated teachin g hospital institution, the48 Department of Community Health shall pay no more than $10,000.0 0 per annum to the49 hospital authority or designated teaching hospital institution. Such payments shall be made50 based upon certifications by the hospital authorities or design ated teaching hospitals51 institutions to the Department of Community Health. The Department of Comm unity52 Health is authorized to designate the Georgia Board of Health C are Workforce to53 promulgate rules and regulations specifying procedures for maki ng the certifications54 provided for in this Code section and to establish a procedure for making payments to55 hospital authorities and designated teaching hospitals institutions as provided in this Code56 section.57 (d) The funds necessary to carry out this Code section shall derive from funds appropriated58 for such purpose to the Department of Community Health. In the event the funds59 appropriated by the General Assembly are insufficient to fund the full amount payable to60 hospital authorities or designated teaching hospitals institutions under subsection (c) of this61 Code section, the amount otherwise payable thereunder shall be reduced pro rata in62 accordance with the funds actually appropriated for such purpos e. The Department of63 Community Health shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out64 the provisions of this Code section. No additional teaching ho spitals will or designated65 institutions shall be added until such funds have been made available for any add itional66 teaching hospitals or designated institutions.67 (e) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to amend, modify, supersede, or repeal68 Chapter 10 of Title 49."69 S. B. 130 - 3 - 25 LC 52 0632 SECTION 2.70 Said title is further amended by revising Code Section 31-34-2, relating to purpose and intent71 of article, as follows:72 "31-34-2.73 It is the purpose of this article to increase the number of phy sicians, dentists, physician74 assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses in underserved rural areas of Georgia75 by making loans to physicians, dentists, physician assistants, and advanced practice76 registered nurses who have completed their medical or health care education, to physicians77 in residency or fellowship programs, and to dental students and allowing such loans to be78 repaid by such physicians, dentists, physician assistants, adva nced practice registered79 nurses, resident physicians, fellowship physicians, and dental students agreeing to practice80 medicine or provide health care services in such rural areas an d by making grants to81 hospitals and, as determined by the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce, other health82 care entities, local governments, and civic organizations in un derserved rural areas of83 Georgia that agree to provide matching funds to the grant, with the intent to enhance84 recruitment efforts in bringing physicians, dentists, physician assistants, and advanced85 practice registered nurses to such areas. It is the intent of the General Assembly that if86 funds are available to the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce to make loans, grants,87 or scholarships under this article or under other applicable state law, the Georgia Board of88 Health Care Workforce shall give priority to loans and scholarships under Part 6 of Article89 7 of Chapter 3 of Title 20 and to loans under Code Section 31-34-4."90 SECTION 3.91 Said title is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 31-34-4, relating to92 loan applicant qualifications and rules and regulations, as follows:93 "(a)(1) A physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse94 who receives a loan under the program provided for in this arti cle shall be a citizen or95 S. B. 130 - 4 - 25 LC 52 0632 national of the United States licensed to practice his or her health care profession within96 the State of Georgia at the time the loan is made, and shall be a graduate of an accredited97 graduate medical education program or other applicable accredited health care education98 program located in the United States which has received accredi tation or provisional99 accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the100 American Osteopathic Association or such other applicable accreditation for other health101 care education programs, as determined by the board.102 (2) A resident physician or fellowship physician who receives a loan under the program103 provided for in this article shall be a citizen or national of the United States and shall be104 a resident physician or fellowship physician in an ACGME accredited program.105 (3) A dental student who receives a loan under the program provided for in this article106 shall be a citizen or national of the United States and shall b e actively enrolled as a107 fourth-year student in an accredited dental education program l ocated in the United108 States."109 SECTION 4.110 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.111 S. B. 130 - 5 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. Senate Bill 130 expands Georgia's medical education funding and rural physician loan programs to cover more teaching sites and to make doctors in residency or fellowship training eligible for loan repayment if they agree to practice in underserved areas. ### Plain-language summary Georgia currently pays hospital authorities and certain "designated teaching hospitals" up to $10,000 per year for each medical resident they train, and it runs a loan program meant to draw doctors, dentists, and other health workers to underserved rural areas. This bill broadens both programs. It replaces the narrower "designated teaching hospital" category with a wider "designated institution" category that also includes any medical facility with a federal Medicare/Medicaid certification number that offers an accredited residency or fellowship program. It adds fellows (physicians in ACGME-accredited fellowship training) to the group eligible for the $10,000 per year payment, alongside residents. It also rewrites the purpose and eligibility rules of the rural service-cancelable loan program (O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 34) so that physicians currently in residency or fellowship training, not just those who have finished their training, can receive loans in exchange for agreeing to practice in rural Georgia. ### What it does - Expands the definition of facilities eligible for state medical education funding beyond hospital authorities and traditional teaching hospitals to include any Medicare/Medicaid-certified medical facility with an accredited residency or fellowship program. - Adds a new definition of "fellow" and makes fellows, not just medical residents, eligible for the state's per-physician training payments of up to $10,000 per year. - Rewrites the purpose section of the rural loan program to explicitly include making loans to physicians currently in residency or fellowship programs, not only those who have finished training. - Changes the loan applicant qualification rules so a resident physician or fellowship physician in an ACGME-accredited program can qualify for a loan by being a U.S. citizen or national in that program. - Keeps the existing cap that state payments to hospitals and medical facilities cannot exceed $10,000 per resident or fellow per year and remain subject to pro rata cuts if funding is short. ### Who it affects Hospital authorities, teaching hospitals, and newly eligible medical facilities that train residents and fellows; medical residents and fellows themselves; the Department of Community Health and the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce, which administer the funding and loans; and rural communities seeking more doctors, dentists, physician assistants, and nurses. ### Why it matters By letting more types of medical facilities receive training payments and by allowing doctors still in residency or fellowship to qualify for loan repayment tied to rural service, the bill could expand the pool of medical trainees eligible for state support and potentially increase the number of physicians available to practice in underserved parts of Georgia. ### Key provisions - Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 31-7-95 to replace "designated teaching hospital" with "designated institution," adding facilities with a CMS certification number that host an ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship. - Section 1 adds a definition of "fellow" and extends the $10,000 per year per-trainee payment from the Department of Community Health to cover fellows as well as residents. - Section 1 keeps the rule that payments are reduced pro rata if state appropriations are insufficient and that no new teaching hospitals or institutions are added until funding is available. - Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-34-2 to state the rural loan program's purpose now includes loans to physicians in residency or fellowship programs, not just those who have completed training. - Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-34-4(a) to add resident physicians and fellowship physicians as a qualifying category, requiring only U.S. citizenship or national status and enrollment in an ACGME-accredited program. - Section 4 repeals conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Mike Hodges, Shawn Still, Ben Watson, Kay Kirkpatrick, Billy Hickman, Rick Townsend - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70087 > The history, votes, and amendments (953 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb130.md?full=1