NEW CASTLE, Del.– The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services has launched a state-sponsored Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program. Under the new loan repayment program, eligible clinicians may receive up to $50,000 per year in loan repayment for a maximum of four years of employment in Delaware.
Gov. John Carney signed House Bill 48 with House Amendment 1 on Aug. 10, 2021, establishing the loan repayment program administered by the Delaware Health Care Commission. The program is a tool to incentivize providers to practice in Delaware, in addition to attracting more providers to the state’s primary care workforce.
In Fiscal Year 2022, the General Assembly allocated $1 million in state funds to support the loan repayment program. The Delaware Health Care Commission also received, in December 2021, a $1 million one-time contribution from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. For Fiscal Year 2023, beginning July 1, 2022, the governor’s Recommended Budget has proposed an additional $1 million in state funds to support the program.
Qualifying clinicians must be a new primary care provider in an ambulatory or outpatient setting and completed graduate education within six months of the application for HCPLRP being submitted. Eligible health care providers include physicians practicing family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, geriatrics, and psychiatry as well as Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse Midwives, Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Physicians Assistants practicing adult medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry/mental health, geriatrics, and women’s health.
Employers may apply on behalf of their affiliated, qualifying clinicians for education loan repayment grants. These sites may include:
- Hospital primary care practices
- Private practices
- Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Community outpatient facilities
- Community mental health facilities
- Free medical clinics
For awards issued to practitioners employed by Delaware health care facilities, hospitals and health systems must provide a 50% match for loan repayment awards.
Priority consideration will be given to Delaware Institute of Medical Education and Research (DIMER)-participating students and participants in Delaware based residency programs. Delaware is one of four states that does not have its own medical school. To accommodate the growing demand for primary care physicians across the state, the General Assembly created DIMER to support affiliated agreements with two medical schools in Philadelphia: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) and Thomas Jefferson, Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC). A minimum of 120 academic seats are reserved annually (80 at Sidney Kimmel and 40 at PCOM) for Delaware residents applying to an allopathic or osteopathic degree program. New DIMER graduates are eligible for HCPLRP.
Delaware’s Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program application is available online.
Applications are now accepted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed on the following schedule:
June 1, 2022*
Aug. 1, 2022*
Oct. 1, 2022
* Applicants in the June 1 and August 1 review cycles must have completed their graduate medical education by July 2021 or sometime thereafter. Applicants in the Oct. 1 review cycle must complete their graduate education by 2022 or sometime thereafter.
In addition to the state-sponsored Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program, Delaware has operated a federal state loan repayment program (SLRP) supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SLRP offers similar incentives: up to $200,000 for four-year contractual agreements to provide services in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. Where SLRP differs from HCPLRP is in designated areas of need, eligible professional disciplines, types of health care employment facilities that qualify, and date of graduation in respective disciplines.
To learn more about Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program and the federal state loan repayment program, visit: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dhcc/LRP.html.
