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      Loan Repayment Opportunities in Wisconsin
 
National Health Service Corps Programs
 
 
NHSC Programs for Students
 
NHSC Scholars
The NHSC offers a competitive scholarship program designed for students committed to providing primary health care in communities of greatest need. Scholarship recipients serve where they are most needed upon completion of their training. The program offers the following benefits for up to 4 years of education:
  • Payment of tuition and fees
  • Twelve monthly stipend payments per year of scholarship support
  • Payment of other reasonable educational expenses, such as books, supplies, and equipment
 
Note: Starting January 1, 2002, NHSC scholarship awards for tuition, fees, and other reasonable expenses are exempt from federal tax. The stipend portion remains taxable.
 
To be eligible for the NHSC Scholarship Program, you must be a U.S. citizen enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, in a fully accredited U.S.:
  • Allopathic or osteopathic medical school
  • Family nurse practitioner program (master’s degree in nursing, post-master’s or post-baccalaureate certificate)
  • Nurse-midwifery program (master’s degree in nursing, post-master’s or post-baccalaureate certificate)
  • Physician assistant program (certificate, associate, baccalaureate, or master’s program)
  • Dental school (this pilot program is open to only third- and fourth-year students attending schools who have signed an Educational Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the NHSC.
 
Scholars attending medical school are expected to complete residency programs in one of the following specialties:
  • Family medicine
  • General pediatrics
  • General internal medicine
  • Obstetrics/gynecology
  • Psychiatry
  • Rotating internship (D.O. s only) with a request to complete one of the above specialties
 
Dental Scholars may do residencies in general practice or pediatric dentistry.
 
Directly upon completion of your training, you will choose a practice site in a federally designated health professional shortage area identified as having the greatest need. Period of service is 1 year for each year of support you receive, with a 2-year minimum commitment.
 
To request an application, call 1-800-638-0824. The application deadline is usually at the end of March each year.
 
 
National Nurse Service Corps
A new federal program, the National Nurse Service Corps, has recently been authorized. When funded, it will provide scholarships for students in baccalaureate-degree nursing programs in return for a service obligation of at least two years at a health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses.
 
 
NHSC Loan Repayment Programs (NHSC-LRP)
The NHSC also offers loan repayment programs for health professionals who will practice in a designated rural or urban health professions shortage area (HPSA). An NHSC loan can provide up to $50,000 for a two-year obligation. In addition to loan repayment, these clinicians receive a competitive salary, some tax relief benefits, and a chance to have a significant impact on a community.
 
To be eligible for the Loan Repayment Program (LRP), you must be a fully trained:
  • Physician specializing in family medicine, general pediatrics, general internal medicine, general psychiatry, or obstetrics/gynecology
  • Primary care nurse practitioner
  • Primary care physician assistant
  • Certified nurse-midwife
  • Dentist
  • Dental hygienist
  • Mental or behavioral health professional (clinical psychologist, clinical social worker, licensed professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, and psychiatric nurse specialist)
 
Other eligibility requirements include:
  • Be free of judgment liens arising from Federal debt
  • Have no other existing service commitment
  • Serve full time (40 hours a week) in the clinical practice of your profession
  • Commit to providing primary care service in a priority health professional shortage area for a minimum of 2 years
  • Be a U.S. citizen with a valid, unrestricted license and/or certificate for the State where you plan to practice
 
Maximum repayment during the required initial 2-year contract is $25,000 each year. You may be eligible to continue your loan repayment beyond 2 years, 1 year at a time, to the extent you have unpaid qualifying educational loans and continue to serve at an eligible site. One-year amendments are awarded for a maximum of $35,000 per year.
 
Clinicians choose their practice site before applying to the NHSC-LRP, allowing maximum flexibility to match the right clinicians with the right communities. However, employment at a site does not guarantee participation in the NHSC-LRP. Call 1-800-221-9393 to obtain the current application.
 
 
NHSC Programs for Communities
 
The NHSC helps communities to recruit and retain health professionals committed to serving in the communities that need them the most by placing NHSC scholars and loan-repayers in qualifying communities. Currently, two-thirds of NHSC clinicians remain in underserved communities after fulfilling their NHSC service commitments. The NHSC helps communities recruit primary care physicians (family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics) as well as physicians trained in obstetrics and gynecology and general psychiatry, primary care nurse practitioners and physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, dentists, dental hygienists and mental or behavioral health professionals. In order to be eligible for NHSC assistance, sites must be located in a designated health professions shortage area (HPSA), serve high-need urban or rural populations, accept Medicaid/Medicare assignment, maintain a discounted fee schedule assuring no financial barrier to care for those at or below 200 percent of the federally designated poverty level, function as a part of a system of care assuring access to the full continuum of services and maintain full-time practice hours.
 
To determine if your community or site is located in an area already designated as a HPSA, go to the Query Selection Page. If there is no designation in place, you can obtain an application for HPSA designation from the Shortage Designation Branch of the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis at 1-800-400-2742.
 
The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health can help communities seeking to qualify for NHSC Programs and NHSC scholars and loan-repayers seeking placement. Contact the WORH at (608) 265-3608.
 
The Wisconsin Primary Care Office (PCO) in the Division of Public Health also helps with the application process and forwards recommendations on shortage area designations to the federal agency responsible for shortage designations. For additional information contact the Division of Public Health, Primary Care Section at (608) 264-6528.
 
Visit the National Health Service Corps website at http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov/.