I. – Local authorities and their groupings may grant aid to encourage healthcare professionals to set up or remain in areas defined in application of 1° of article L. 1434-4 of the Public Health Code. To this end, agreements are signed between the authorities and groupings that grant the aid and the healthcare professionals concerned. The agreements signed are forwarded by the local authorities and groupings concerned to the regional health agencies or, for Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, to the Prefect and to the local health insurance bodies. The health centres referred to in article L. 6323-1 of the Public Health Code may also receive this aid under the same conditions. This aid does not exclude aid already allocated by the local authorities to health centres located throughout the country.
The nature of and conditions for granting this aid, which may in particular be subject to group or multi-professional practice methods designed to improve the continuity and quality of care, are set by decree in the Conseil d’Etat.
Local authorities and their groupings may also grant aid to finance structures involved in the continuity of care, in particular medical centres.
Real estate investments made, by local authorities and their groupings, in the areas defined in the first paragraph of this I, rural regeneration areas or priority development rural territories, and intended for the installation of healthcare professionals or for health and social action, are eligible for the Value Added Tax Compensation Fund.
Local authorities and their groupings may also grant accommodation and travel allowances to postgraduate students of general medicine when they undertake their placements in areas defined by the aforementioned Social Security Funding Act for 1999, in which a shortfall in healthcare provision has been identified.
A decree determines the maximum amount and the procedures for awarding these allowances.
II. – A study and professional project allowance may be awarded by local and regional authorities and their groupings to any student, holder of the competitive medical examination, enrolled in a faculty of medicine or dental surgery, if they undertake to practise as a general practitioner, specialist or dental surgeon for at least five years in one of the areas mentioned in the first paragraph of I. To qualify for this aid, the student signs a contract with the local authority awarding the aid.
The general conditions for awarding the allowance, its maximum amount and, where applicable, the terms and conditions for its total or partial reimbursement and revaluation are determined by decree.