Massachusetts Loan Repayment Programs for Health Professionals
Health Disparities Council
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals - Context
•	HDC response to Latino Mental Health Program of Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology’s recommendation to expand state loan-repayment programs at 3/22/10 meeting of HDC
•	The initiation of federal financial aid to underrepresented health professions students helped raise the number of med school matriculants in the 1970s.¹
Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals
•	Managed by:
Primary Care Office
Division of Primary Care & Health Access 
Massachusetts Department of Public Health 
•	Focused on primary care practitioners who work in federally-designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
•	 Massachusetts has dozens of HPSAs (see http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage)
•	MA program supported by US Health Resources and Services Administration

Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals
•	Loan repayment – how it works:
   Candidates with outstanding educational loans apply for repayment help in exchange for a commitment to work for at least 2 years in a high need area 
•	$25,000/year (50k max) for MDs, Dentists,NPs, Licensed Psychologists
•	$20,000/year (40k max) for mental health, dental hygienists
Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals
•	Funding
•	Primary Care Office applied for $450,000 in federal loan repayment ($350,000 base + $100,000 ARRA)
•	$450,000 (dollar-for-dollar) state match would be required
•	 Available to many professions, including MD, NP, Dentists/hygienists, and behavioral health professions who commit to working in a HPSA 
Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals
•	The Massachusetts Health Care Workforce Center also has a small state-funded loan repayment program focused on physicians and nurse practitioners that is focused on Massachusetts-designated priorities (i.e, not limited to HPSA)
•	$157,000 in state funding this year

Loan Repayment Programs for Massachusetts Health Professionals
•	Opportunities in US Affordable Health Care Act of 2010:
•	Title V is focused on workforce, and includes millions for loan repayment programs:
Sec. 5201. Federally supported student loan funds.
Sec. 5202. Nursing student loan program.
Sec. 5203. Health care workforce loan repayment programs.
Sec. 5204. Public health workforce recruitment and retention programs.
Sec. 5205. Allied health workforce recruitment and retention programs.
Endnotes
¹Cohen, Jordan; Gabriel, Barbara; Terrell, Charles. The Case for Diversity in the Health Care Workforce, Health Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 5, September/October 2002, p 96.