Grants to states for loan repayment - the kansas state office of primary care and rural health (sopc/RH), a part of the community health access section, is housed in the bureau of community health…

Grants to states for loan repayment - the kansas state office of primary care and rural health (sopc/RH), a part of the community health access section, is housed in the bureau of community health systems within the kansas department of health and environment (kdhe). The bureau's mission is to assist kansas communities by providing public health, primary care, and prevention services for all kansans. The sopc/RH focuses on primary medical, dental, and behavioral health care service delivery, with programmatic emphasis on workforce and access for underserved populations. The kansas state loan repayment program (slrp) grant plays a valuable role in the sopc/RH and bureau's effort to coordinate and link primary care, dental and mental health providers with state and federal resources. The slrp program is seeking to further develop its initiatives, provide high quality management to meet program needs, actively engage partners and disseminate program outcomes. The expected outcomes of the kansas slrp grant are to increase access of primary health care providers in underserved areas of the state through the leveraging of existing state and federal support for provider loan repayment assistance. The workforce program analyst will work closely with the physician, nursing, and dental professional associations, the licensure boards for each discipline, and academic institutions on recruiting providers to underserved areas to ensure the best possible applicant pool. The sopc/RH collaborates on workforce recruitment with other state agencies, the state-funded university affiliated area health education centers, and other university partners in order to recruit health professionals in underserved areas.