Section 580.100  Definitions

"Act" means the Loan Repayment Assistance for Dentists Act [110 ILCS 948].

"Administrative law judge" shall have the meaning ascribed in the Department's Practice and Procedure in Administrative Hearings (77 Ill. Adm. Code 100).

"Applicant" means a person who submits an application to the Department to receive a dental loan repayment assistance grant.

"Business day" means Monday through Friday.  It does not include a federal or State government declared holiday, Saturday or Sunday.

"Calendar day" means all days in a month or prescribed time frame.  It includes weekends and federal or State government declared holidays.

"Commercial lending institution" means a bank, credit union or financial company that makes loans.

"Dental hygienist" means a person who holds a dental hygienist license under the Illinois Dental Practice Act to perform dental services as authorized by Section 18 of the Illinois Dental Practice Act. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Dental payments" means compensation provided to dentists and dental specialists for services rendered under Article V of the Illinois Public Aid Code

[305 ILCS 5/Art. V], the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act [215 ILCS 170] , or the Children's Health Insurance Program Act [215 ILCS 106] administered by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). (Section 10 of the Act)

"Dental specialist" means a person who has received a license as a dentist in this State and who is trained and qualified to practice in one or more of the following specialties of dentistry: endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pedodontics, periodontics, and prosthodontics. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Dentist" means a person who has received a general license pursuant to Section 11(a) of the Illinois Dental Practice Act [225 ILCS 25/11(a)], who may perform any intraoral and extraoral procedure required in the practice of dentistry, and to whom are reserved the responsibilities specified in Section 17 of the Illinois Dental Practice Act. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Department" means the Department of Public Health. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Designated shortage area" means a dental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) as defined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (Designation of Health Professional Shortage Areas (42 CFR 5, 51c) and the Public Health Service Act (42 USC 216, 254c)) or as otherwise designated by the Department of Public Health. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Educational loans" means higher education student loans that a person has incurred in attending a registered professional dental education program. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Full-Time Practice" means a dental practice with a 40-hour work week where at least 32 hours of the 40 hours per week are spent providing clinical services.  These services shall be conducted during normally scheduled clinic hours in the ambulatory care setting offices.  The remaining hours shall be spent providing inpatient care and/or in practice-related administrative activities.  The 40 hours per week may be compressed into no fewer than four days per week, with no more than 12 hours of work to be performed in any 24-hour period.  Time spent in "on-call" status will not count toward the 40-hour week.  Hours worked over the required 40 hours per week will not be applied to any other work week.

"Grant" means funds awarded under the Act.

"Grant agreement" means the agreement entered into between the Department and any person or entity for obligation, capital expenditure or use for a specific purpose.

"Grantee" means a person or entity which may use grant funds (Section 2(c) of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act).

"Grant funds" means public funds dispensed by the Department to any person or entity for obligation, expenditure or use for a specific purpose. (Section 2(b) of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act)

"Grant period" means the duration of the loan repayment benefit, which is one year.

"Health Professional Shortage Area" or "HPSA" means a designation provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration.  The HPSA designation indicates the shortage of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers.  The designation may be geographic (a county or service area), demographic (low income population) or institutional (comprehensive health center, FQHC or other public facility).  HPSA designations can be found at http://hpsafind. hrsa.gov/.

"Health Professional Shortage Area Score" or "HPSA Score" means the HPSA shortage severity score calculated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Professionals when a HPSA is federally designated.

"Illinois resident" means a person who has been a resident of Illinois for at least one year prior to applying for loan repayment assistance and is a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.

"Lawful permanent resident" means a person who is not a citizen of the United States but who resides in the United States under legally recognized requirements and lawfully records his/her permanent residence.

"Low income person" means a person whose income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level guideline as determined by the most recent U.S. Census Bureau's decennial census information.

"Low income patients" mean patients in the dental practice whose income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level guideline as determined by the most recent U.S. Census Bureau's decennial census information.

"Medical assistance" means services for medical and dental assistance provided under Article V of the Illinois Public Aid Code.

"Medical assistance reimbursement documentation" means the documentation of medical assistance reimbursement dollars that dentists receive from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services for dental services provided to medical assistance recipients. 

"Metropolitan Statistical Area" or "MSA" means one or more adjacent counties that have at least one urban core area of at least 50,000 in population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.

"Program" means the educational loan repayment assistance program for dentists and dental specialists or dental hygienists established by the Department under the Act. (Section 10 of the Act)

"Registered professional dental education program" means a dental school accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation.

"Rural" means any geographic area not located in a U.S. Census Bureau Metropolitan Statistical Area; or a county located within a Metropolitan Statistical Area but having a population of 60,000 or less; or a geographic area located within a Metropolitan Statistical Area but having a population of 2,500 or less.

"Service area" means the geographic area of the HPSA.

"Service term" means the length of time that the dentist, dental hygienist or dental specialist will receive loan repayment funds from the Department while serving a dental HPSA.

"Urban" means any geographic area that does not meet the definition of "rural" in this Section.

(Source:  Amended at 36 Ill. Reg. 2313, effective January 27, 2012)