Oregon Offers Student Loan Repayments to Doctors

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

GoLocalPDX Health Team

Oregon is offering health professional loan repayments to primary care providers if they agree to work in practices with a high concentration of Medicaid clients.

Under the Medicaid Loan Repayment Program, awardees get 20 percent of their unpaid student debt – up to $35,000 a year – in exchange for agreeing to serve Medicaid and other patients in a qualifying practice site.

The Medicaid Loan Repayment Program is part of a plan to increase the number of qualified primary care providers in underserved communities.

About 971,000 Oregonians are on the Oregon Health Plan; 357,500 received coverage since Jan. 1, 2014. According to a Gallup Poll, only 14 percent of Oregonians are now uninsured.

"We must improve access to health care providers as we transform the health care system," said Suzanne Hoffman, interim director of the Oregon Health Authority. "I want to extend congratulations to the award recipients and thank them for their service to the state."

"The need continues to grow for providers in our rural and urban underserved communities,” said Scott Ekblad, director of the Oregon Office of Rural Health at Oregon Health & Science University. "This program is important in helping us meet that need.”