The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is a federal program established in 1972 as part of the Emergency Health Personnel Act (Powell, 2013). The agency was established to address the access gaps in the US healthcare system that leaves many unable to access primary health care. The mission of the agency is to build healthy communities by supporting qualified medical practitioners who are devoted to working in federally designated health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) (HRSA, N.d). The NHSC consists of federal and state programs that provide health personnel, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and behavioral or mental health professionals, to communities that are deemed “medically underserved.”
To achieve its aim, the NHSC provides medical students full access to scholarship in exchange for subsequent service in regions designated by the agency (Powell, 2013). This provides an important subsidy to medical students given that it fully covers their tuition and fees. This program works in the following manner to help geographical areas that need health services. The agency allows medical students early in their medical school training to enroll in their program. The students are then given full access to scholarship for tuition and fees. For every year the students receive a scholarship, he or she ought to serve one year at a federally designated HPSAs.
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The enrollees are provided with a list containing approved HPSAs to choose from. After expressing their preferences, the physicians are recruited to work in medical organizations at their preferred location. The physicians commit themselves to these organizations to fulfill their contract after which they are free to enter the private workforce (Powell, 2013). Apart from the scholarship program, the NHSC also offers a loan repayment option which began in 1987 (Powell, 2013). This program enrolls physicians who have graduated to work in communities that are “medically underserved.” The agency then repays a portion of the medical school debt for every year of service.
References
HRSA. (N.d). National Health Service Corps. [Online]. Available at: https://bhw.hrsa.gov/loansscholarships/nhsc . Accessed 9 th April 2019.
Powell, M. (2013). The National Health Service Corps and Health Care for the Homeless Programs. A Toolkit for Navigating Logistics and Opportunities. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/nhsc-and-hch-toolkit-2013.pdf . Accessed 9 th April 2019.
