(a) Subject to available funding, the department shall establish a process in consultation with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for selecting Texas medical schools to recruit students from rural communities and encourage them to return to rural communities to practice medicine.
(b) The Texas medical schools selected shall:
(1) encourage high school and college students from rural communities to pursue a career in medicine;
(2) develop a screening process to identify rural students most likely to pursue a career in medicine;
(3) establish a rural medicine curriculum;
(4) establish a mentoring program for rural students;
(5) provide rural students with information about financial aid resources available for postsecondary education; and
(6) establish a rural practice incentive program.