The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) awarded $9.1 million in funding to 77 medical students in 30 States and the District of Columbia who will serve as primary care doctors in medically underserved areas and help strengthen the health care workforce.
The announcement was made Monday by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center, a community health center in Los Angeles.
Made possible by the Affordable Care Act (the new healthcare law), the National Health Service Corps’ Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (S2S), provides financial support to fourth year medical students who are committed to a career in primary care in exchange for their service in communities with limited access to care.
Administered by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Students to Service is a pilot program that provides loan repayment assistance of up to $120,000 to medical students (MDs and DOs) in their last year of education. In return, they commit to serve in a health professional shortage area upon completion of a primary care residency program, according to Martin Kramer, director of communications for HRSA.
“Essentially, this program not only encourages students to join NHSC but it also encourages them to go into primary care,” said Kramer. “HHS Students to Service Program participants must work at NHSC-approved sites in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) of greatest need throughout the United States.”
These newest NHSC providers must serve an initial three years of full-time clinical service or six years of half-time service in rural and urban areas of greatest need.
“Annual payments of up to $30,000 will be made over the course of four years, beginning in the participant’s first year of residency,” said Kramer. “With continued service, eligible providers may be able to pay off all qualifying student loans.”
According to Kramer, in order to be considered for the loan, students had to submit an application to the NHSC, which were then scored by an independent objective review committee.
“S2S awardees had to demonstrate the characteristics for and interest in serving the nation’s medically underserved populations,” he said. “By law, priority was also given to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
“The average medical school debt of the students receiving these awards is more than $200,000,” said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, in a press release.
During the announcement Monday, Sebelius spoke with Eric Schluederberg, one of the awardees announced and a fourth-year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif. He was always attracted to the field of primary care, but the story of his fiancé, Nancy, who has Spina Bifida, has helped inspire him to serve in the NHSC and ensure that women get the pre-natal care they need.
“I always knew my calling was primary care,“ said Schluederberg. “I’m not a social researcher, and I’m not an economist. But it seems that there are a lot of underserved people in this nation, and that providing sound primary care is a good economic investment.”
For more information about NHSC programs, visit http://www.NHSC.hrsa.gov.