{"data":{"id":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5653","jurisdiction":"us-ne","citation":"Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-5653","heading":"Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-5653","body":"For purposes of the Rural Health Systems and Professional Incentive Act:\n\n(1) Approved medical specialty means family practice, general practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and psychiatry;\n\n(2) Approved dental specialty means general practice, pediatric dentistry, and oral surgery;\n\n(3) Approved mental health practice program means an approved educational program consisting of a master's or doctorate degree with the focus being primarily therapeutic mental health and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in mental health practice or psychology by the department;\n\n(4) Commission means the Nebraska Rural Health Advisory Commission;\n\n(5) Department means the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services;\n\n(6) Doctorate-level mental health student means a graduate student enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in an approved mental health practice program leading to a doctorate degree and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in psychology by the department;\n\n(7) Full-time practice means a minimum of forty hours per week;\n\n(8) Health care means both somatic and mental health care services;\n\n(9) Master's level mental health student means a graduate student enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in an approved mental health practice program leading to a master's degree and meeting the educational requirements for licensure in mental health practice by the department;\n\n(10) Office means the Office of Rural Health;\n\n(11) Part-time practice means less than full-time practice but at least twenty hours per week;\n\n(12) Qualified educational debts means government and commercial student-loan loans obtained by students for postsecondary education tuition, other educational expenses, and reasonable living expenses, as determined by the department, but does not include loans received under the act; and\n\n(13) Rural means located within any county in Nebraska having a population of less than fifteen thousand inhabitants and not included within a metropolitan statistical area as defined by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.","path":["NE Code","Chapter 71"],"source_url":"https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=71-5653","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:21Z","sha256":"954678cd821edae284929359c68a1440fd26dccf0c6931bd81c164e75695cf15","source_id":"us-ne","stale":false,"prev":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5652","next":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5654"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}