“Recruiting new providers to low-income neighborhoods through this loan repayment program helps equalize the difference in salary between shortage and non-shortage areas,” said DCPCA’s Chief Executive Officer Sharon A. Baskerville.  “This program also improves retention rates for providers in shortage areas, creating a workforce that lives and works in our underserved communities.”

Over the last two years, four different placement sites have used the DC Health Professional Loan Repayment Program to recruit a total of seven medical professionals to work in the District – including two psychiatrists, a physician, a dentist, a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, and a registered nurse. The new federal law will allow the District to apply for federal funding to supplement local funding and to help recruit even more medical professionals to serve in DC’s critical shortage areas. Nearly 300,000 DC residents live in a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area or a Medically Underserved Area.

“I first worked at Bread for the City while I was training to become a physician assistant.  I absolutely loved the patients, and the people I worked with were great,” said Jen Schiebe, a physician assistant who has worked at Bread for the City since October 2007.  “I couldn’t have returned to Bread after school without help to pay my student loans.  The health professional recruitment program allows me to work with patients that I’m passionate about and to stay in a community that I am committed to.”

In 2005, Councilmember David A. Catania co-authored the “District of Columbia Health Professional Recruitment Program Act.”  Over the last three years, the District has appropriated a total of $600,000 to fund the program.  Included in the table is a list of providers eligible to participate in the District’s health professional loan repayment program.

Health professionals eligible for the DC Health Professional Loan Repayment Program include:
Graduates of an accredited medical school and specialty training in: * Family practice medicine * General internal medicine * General pediatrics * Obstetrics/gynecology * Osteopathic general practice * Psychiatry	Graduates of an accredited program for:   * Certified registered nurse practitioners * Clinical psychologists * Clinical social workers * Dental hygienists * Nurse midwives * Physician assistants * Professional counselors * Registered nurses

After the enactment of the DC Health Professional Recruitment Program legislation in 2006, the District learned that under the Public Health Service Act it was not eligible to apply for federal funds that are available to any of the 50 states who administer similar health professional loan repayment programs.  Under the law, only states were eligible for federal grants.  The District was excluded.

In February 2007, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty; DC Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray; and Councilmember Catania, the Chairman of the Committee on Health, wrote members of Congress asking their support to expand the federal grant program to include the District.  In June 2007, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) introduced the “District of Columbia Loan Repayment Equity Technical Amendment Act of 2007” to add the District to this program.

On October 8, 2008, President Bush signed into law the “Health Centers Renewal Act of 2008.”  The final bill incorporated language from Delegate Norton’s legislation.  The District is now eligible to apply for federal funding to help recruit and retain qualified medical professionals to work in underserved communities.

“The student loan repayment program is an excellent tool for recruiting and retaining talented young dentists who graduate with extensive debt due to professional school education,” said Ivan Stangel, clinical director for Oral Health Services at So Others Might Eat (SOME).  “Usually, salaries for community oral health positions are significantly lower than those in private practice, and are thus not attractive given that debt and the need for repayment.  The loan repayment program, however, enables these talented dentists to come into a community health environment to serve the needs of low-income individuals.  To use an expression, it is a ‘win-win’ situation.”

DCPCA wishes to thank Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council Chairman Vincent Gray, and Committee on Health Chairman David Catania for their support of the District’s loan repayment program and their leadership to strengthen the health care workforce for the District’s underserved residents.
 
For more information about the DC Health Professional Loan Repayment Program, visit DCPCA’s Web site, which includes the program’s application materials and a list of certified placement sites.