The Rhode Island Foundation announced today the creation of a loan forgiveness program for medical students who elect to become primary care providers in the state.

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Posted Aug 26, 2009
$1M program to pay med students’ loans
By Chris Barrett
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation announced today the creation of a loan forgiveness program for medical students who elect to become primary care providers in the state.

The loan forgiveness program has received a $500,000 grant from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, which will be added to $600,000 already earmarked for the program from the Fund for a Healthy Rhode Island, a $20 million endowment created last year as part of a settlement between Blue Cross and then-U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente.

The R.I. Student Loan Authority will administer the program, which will give up to $20,000 a year for up to four years to doctors who become primary care physicians in the Ocean State. Officials said they expect about 20 doctors to take advantage of the program over the next three years.

James E. Purcell, president and CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield, said the insurer has made improving primary care access its No. 1 organizational priority, because it lowers medical costs by treating underlying health conditions early and creates a healthier population.

Dr. Diane R. Siedlecki, president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, said the money and program arrive at a critical time.

Fewer and fewer medical students are choosing to enter general practice, instead setting their sights on more lucrative specialty practices, Siedlecki said. And existing primary care physicians already have huge lists of patients that must often wait weeks or months for routine appointments, she added.

The primary care system is “crumbling and falling apart and we all recognize that we need to save it, to rebuild it,” Siedlecki said, adding that the loan forgiveness program might provide students the extra motivation to go into general practice.

Applications for the loan forgiveness program will be available from the R.I. Student Loan Authority starting Sept. 15.

Although the Rhode Island Foundation had originally said the program would be open to some providers who are not physicians, such as nurse practitioners, mental health workers, and case managers, the program will only be open to doctors initially, foundation president Neil D. Steinberg said.