Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Grants to States for Loan Repayment - Project Title: Wisconsin Health Professions Loan Assistance Program/State Loan Repayment Program Organization Name: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin Mailing Address: 21 N. Park St. Suite 6401, Madison, WI 53715-1218 Project Director: John Eich Phone: (608) 261-1888 fax: (608) 261-1890 Email: eich@wisc.edu Website: http://worh.org/loan-repayment Project Abstract The goal of Wisconsin’s Health Professions Loan Assistance Program/State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) is to increase access to health care services in underserved rural and urban communities, specifically, federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), by recruiting and retaining health care providers to these Wisconsin communities. The SLRP program aims to achieve this goal by providing financial awards to health care providers who commit to working in an underserved area for three years. The expected program outcome is to make SLRP awards to 61 health care providers during the four-year grant period 2022-2026; each provider will sign a contract to practice in an underserved rural or urban HPSA for three years, thereby helping to achieve our program goal. The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health (WORH) administers SLRP on behalf of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin. The Office is a program of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. It has responsibility for SLRP promotion to rural and urban providers and practice sites, assistance to providers completing their applications and practice sites interested in participating, application review, award selection process, contract and compliance management, and all reporting requirements. The Office has worked with various aspects of SLRP for over 25 years and has had sole program responsibility for program management since 2010. The Office of Rural Health is requesting $300,000 in SLRP award funds in each of the four years, 2022-2026, a total of $1,200,000. The SLRP program aids Wisconsin in addressing significant rural and urban health care provider shortages by granting up to $50,000 in education loan repayment awards as a recruitment and retention incentive to work in underserved areas. In December 2021,the federal Bureau of Health Workforce found that Wisconsin needs over 440 additional providers in order to eliminate all HPSAs in the State. Wisconsin has an especially great need for mental health care providers. According to Bureau data, over 65% of the State’s need for mental health providers is unmet, leaving 2 ¼ million residents without access to care. WORH will prioritize promoting SLRP to mental health care providers, including psychiatrists and nurse practitioners and physician assistants specializing in mental health. In addition, these providers’ applications will be given more weight when making award decisions. WORH will seek to address health disparities in the State by focusing SLRP promotion on Native American Tribal Clinics and rural practice sites, with a goal of recruiting providers to these communities. The WORH SLRP Program Manager will oversee the entire SLRP award cycle to ensure the Office meets Program goals. This includes: promoting SLRP to providers and sites, providing technical assistance to SLRP applicants, reviewing SLRP applications for eligibility, directing application review and award selection, preparing award contracts, monitoring awardee and site compliance with SLRP guidelines, initiating annual award payments, and evaluating SRLP for compliance and outcome measures.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).