16 Del. Admin. Code § 4104-7.0

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 7, January 1, 2025

Section 4104-7.0 - Site Application Evaluation Process

7.1 The Delaware Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Waiver Program Sponsoring Site Application Review Board (Board) will review and approve or disapprove each Site Application based on its individual merits. Board members must not serve on the review panel for applications submitted by sponsoring sites with which they have either a personal or employment-related conflict of interest. The Board will be comprised of, at least, one member from each hospital located in an underserved area of the state or serving patients from such areas, the Medical Society of Delaware, and DHSS representatives. Additional members may be included at the discretion of the Board.

7.2 Sponsoring Site Application Preliminary Review

7.2.1 A preliminary review of each application will be conducted by the Conrad State 30 Program manager to determine if 1) the sponsoring site is located within a HPSA/MUA or not and 2) that the following required documentation is completed:

7.2.1.1 Sponsoring Site Application

7.2.1.2 Detailed Needs Assessment

7.2.1.3 Strategy for Long-term and Short-term Retention

7.2.1.4 Proof of Failed Recruitment Attempts

7.2.1.5 Letters of Support

7.2.1.6 Sponsoring Site Waiver Agreement

7.2.1.7 Template of the Employment Contract that will be offered

7.2.1.8 Non-refundable processing fee of $200

7.2.2 The preliminary review will be conducted for the purpose of determining the completeness of the application; the specific content provided in each of the components will not be considered. Incomplete applications, as well as applications from a site not located in a HPSA/MUA, will be returned to the sponsoring site. A checklist identifying the missing information will be included. Completed applications may be resubmitted at any time prior to June 30.

7.3 Sponsoring Site Application Review

7.3.1 The Board will convene during the month of August or early September to review the applications submitted before June 30.

7.3.2 Using the Site Application Evaluation (see Appendix D for the form) as a guide, Board members must assign a score to each of the elements on the Site Application Evaluation form.

7.3.3 The following point scale has been assigned to each unique element:

Review Point Scale

Site Application Data	25
Needs Assessment	35
Retention	15
Proof of Failed Recruitment Attempts	15
Letters of Support	10
Total	100

7.3.4 The scores from the review elements will be averaged to reach an overall total score for each Board member. The total scores received from each Board member will then be averaged to determine the final score for each site.

7.3.5 Sites will be approved only if:

7.3.5.1 All criteria are met,

7.3.5.2 A final score not lower than a 70 is achieved, and

7.3.5.3 An overall score of at least a twenty-five (25) is achieved on the Needs Assessment component.

7.4 Timelines. Pre-approved sponsoring sites (whose applications were received by June 30) will be eligible to make a contractual offer to a J-1 physician for the following federal fiscal year (beginning October 1^st of each year). However, if not all thirty Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Waiver slots have been used for the current federal fiscal year, pre-approved sponsoring sites may make a contractual offer to a J-1 physician for the current fiscal year and the physician may submit a J-1 visa waiver application packet (see Appendix C for forms) immediately.

7.5 Guidelines for Review of Applications Submitted After June 30

7.5.1 Applications received after the June 30 deadline will be reviewed to determine if an emergent need (see Glossary for definition of emergent examples) for the placement of a J-1 physician is demonstrated. The application must include a detailed explanation of that documents why the application was not submitted by June 30. If not all thirty Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Waiver slots have been used for the current fiscal year, sponsoring sites deemed by the J-1 Board to have sufficiently demonstrated a true emergent need may make a contractual offer to a J-1 physician immediately upon approval and the physician may submit a J-1 visa waiver application packet (see Appendix C for forms) for the current fiscal year. If all thirty Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Waiver slots have been used, then approved sponsoring sites must wait until the following federal fiscal year (beginning October 1 ^st of each year) to submit a J-1 physician waiver application.

7.5.2 Sponsoring sites clearly demonstrating a emergent need (see definitions section) that will significantly jeopardize access to care for the applicant site's existing patient population of the applicant site need to document four rather than six months of recruitment efforts. All other recruitment efforts as set forth in these regulations apply.

7.6 Notice of Approval/Disapproval

7.6.1 For those applications received by June 30, DHSS will provide written notification of the Site Application's approval or disapproval by September 15 ^th of each year.

7.6.2 For applications submitted after June 30, DHSS will attempt to provide written notification of the Site Application's approval or disapproval within 45 days from the date of receipt of the application by DHSS.

16 Del. Admin. Code § 4104-7.0

17 DE Reg. 233( 8/1/2013)(Final)