Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-697.1: Legislative intent

The Legislature recognizes that there is a need to upgrade the

availability of health care services for people of Oklahoma, and

thus, there is a need to improve the balance of health care

workforce distribution in the state both by type of practice and by

geographic location. Furthermore, the Legislature recognizes the

need to accommodate the increasing number of graduates from the

medical and osteopathic colleges of Oklahoma by retaining their

services as practicing physicians in the state and by attracting

graduates from schools outside the state. Therefore, it is the

intent of the Legislature to increase the number of internship and

residency programs offered for the training of physicians throughout

the state through the sharing by the state of the costs of such

internships and residencies with hospitals and other clinical

residency training establishments. These programs shall be designed

primarily to emphasize the training of primary health care and

family practice physicians and to develop workforce programs to

service directly the rural and nonmetropolitan areas of the state.