Grants to States for Loan Repayment

To increase the availability of primary health care clinicians in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) by assisting States in operating programs for the repayment of educational loans of health professionals in return for their practice in HPSA

To increase the availability of primary health care clinicians in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) by assisting States in operating programs for the repayment of educational loans of health professionals in return for their practice in HPSAs.

Eligible entities include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

Applicants for State programs must have completed a course of study required to practice independently without supervision as one of the following health care professionals: Doctor of Allopathic Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine, General Practice Dentist (D.D.S. or D.M.D.), Pediatric Dentist, Primary Care Certified Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse-Midwife, Primary Care Registered Nurse, Pharmacist, Primary Care Physician Assistant, Registered Clinical Dental Hygienist, Dental Therapist, Health Service Psychologist (formerly Clinical or Counseling Psychologist (Ph.D. or equivalent), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (master's or doctoral degree in social work), Psychiatric Nurse Specialist, Substance Abuse Counselor, Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor (master's or doctoral degree with a major study in counseling), Marriage and Family Therapist (master's or doctoral degree with a major study in marriage and family therapy),Registered Nurse, Pharmacist, and Registered Dietician/Nutritionist. The primary care specialties approvable for physicians are: family medicine (and osteopathic general practice), internal medicine, including geriatricians, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and general psychiatry. General practitioners (physicians who have not completed residency training programs) are not eligible for funding under the SLRP. The primary care specialties approval for registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants are: adult, family, pediatrics, psychiatry/mental health, geriatrics, or women's health. Participants must provide full-time clinical service for a minimum of two years in a public or non-profit entity located in a federally designated HPSA. Refer to the NHSC SLRP Notice of Funding Opportunity for specific requirements.

Funds under this grant must only be used to repay the qualifying educational loans of health professionals who have entered into a SLRP contract with the States.

Funds under this grant must only be used to repay the qualifying educational loans of health professionals who have entered into a SLRP contract with the States.

This funding opportunity provides support for a 3-year project period. States are asked to commit the full amount of funding for their loan repayment awards to practitioners in the current fiscal year to avoid out-year commitments for additional Federal funds.

Procedures for assessing the technical merit of grant applications have been instituted to provide an objective review of applications and to assist the applicant in understanding the standards against which each application will be judged. Critical indicators have been developed for each review criterion to assist the applicant in presenting pertinent information related to that criterion and to provide the reviewer with a standard for evaluation. Competing applications are reviewed by non-Federal expert consultant(s) for technical merit recommendations. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated against the following criteria: (1) Purpose and Need; (2) Response to Program Purpose; (3) Impact; (4) Organizational Information, Resources and Capabilities; and (5) Support Requested. See the most recent Notice of Funding Opportunity for detailed selection criteria.

Notification is made in writing by Notice of Award

Approximately 120 to 180 days after receipt of application.

Depending on Agency priorities and availability of funding, during the final budget year of the approved project period competing continuation applications may be solicited from interested applicants.