Section 41-9-351 - Rural Hospital Loan Program created; Rural Hospital Operations and Facilities Revolving Loan Fund; eligibility and qualifications; report(1) As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings as defined in this subsection: (a) "Department" means the State Department of Health; and(b) "Rural hospital" means a licensed Mississippi hospital that has fifty (50) or fewer licensed general acute, nonspecialty beds.(2) The Mississippi Rural Hospital Loan Program is established in the State Department of Health to provide loans to rural hospitals to assist the hospitals in providing needed direct health care services for the citizens of the state by:(i) Maintaining or upgrading the rural hospital's facilities;(ii) Maintaining or increasing the current staff of the rural hospital; or(iii) Providing health care services that are not currently available to citizens.(3) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Rural Hospital Operations and Facilities Revolving Loan Fund, which shall be administered by the department. The fund shall consist of legislative appropriations, federal funds, contributions, donations, gifts and monies from any other source that are made available for deposit into the fund. Monies in the fund shall be expended by the department upon appropriation of the Legislature for the sole purpose of providing loans to rural hospitals under the provisions of this section. Monies remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned from the investment of monies in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.(4) The department shall determine the terms and conditions of each loan, including the repayment of the loan to be deposited back in the revolving loan fund for issuance of future loans to other rural hospitals, which shall be subject to the following provisions: (a) To be eligible for a loan, a rural hospital must first submit to the department a current financial audit showing that the hospital is in good financial condition;(b) To qualify for a loan, a rural hospital must request funds for one or more of the purposes specified in subsection (2) of this section, and a loan received by a rural hospital shall be used only for the requested purpose or purposes;(c) The amount of a loan shall be not less than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) and not more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) per rural hospital facility;(d) An application fee of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) shall be required from the rural hospital at the time of submission of the application;(e) Security or collateral for a loan shall be required by the rural hospital;(f) The term of a loan shall not exceed twenty (20) years, subject to the life of the collateral for the loan;(g) The rate of interest on a loan shall be fixed and equal to one percent (1%) per annum;(h) A loan may not be used to pay costs incurred before approval of the loan by the department, and a loan may not be refinanced;(i) One hundred percent (100%) of the project costs must be incurred by the rural hospital within one (1) year of approval of the loan by the department; and(j) A rural hospital receiving a loan must maintain at least eighty-five percent (85%) of its full-time employees on the date of approval of the loan annually throughout the term of the loan agreement. For the purposes of this subparagraph (i), a "full-time employee" means a person employed by the rural hospital for a minimum of thirty-five (35) hours per week, and does not include temporary workers, temp-to-hire workers, part-time workers or traveling medical professionals.(5) The department shall monitor the performance of each rural hospital that receives a loan under this section, and not later than October 1, 2022, and each October 1 thereafter, the department shall report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee about each outstanding loan issued, including:(a) The name and location of the rural hospital;(b) The amount of principal originally loaned;(c) The terms of the loan and whether the rural hospital is currently meeting those terms; and(d) How the rural hospital used the loan related to facilities, staff or additional services.Added by Laws, 2022, ch. 353, HB 365,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2022.