Oklahoma stops repaying medical school loans

Oklahoma will no longer offer a loan repayment program intended to encourage physicians to practice in the state's rural communities. But health care advocates say it was a small sacrifice because state lawmakers agreed to continue funding three other -- much larger -- programs that help rural communities attract primary care physicians.

Rick Ernest, executive director of the state's Physician Manpower Training Commission, which oversees these programs, said the unrenewed loan repayment program had $200,000 available to help physicians and other health professionals pay back their student loans.

Only two physicians participated during the two-year trial period. Each received $25,000 a year in loan repayments for their two years of rural service.

These physicians, however, already had established rural practices and were not the newcomers Ernest hoped the program would attract to federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas.

"The loan repayment program didn't do what we wanted," he said.

Other efforts continue

Lawmakers have agreed to continue paying $5.5 million to run other programs, including three that bring about 30 physicians annually to rural Oklahoma.

The programs are:

• Medical scholarships that give Oklahoma medical students $60,000 over four years to practice in communities of 7,500 or fewer people for four years after residency. Seven to 10 medical students sign onto this program each year.
• Family medicine resident scholarships that pay trainees $1,000 a month, in addition to their salaries, for three years. In return, the residents practice in a community outside of Tulsa or Oklahoma City for three years after graduation. Twelve to 15 residents sign on for this program annually.
• Physician-community match signing bonuses that offer out-of-state doctors a one-time $40,000 payment, in addition to their salaries, to practice in rural Oklahoma for three years. Physicians willing to leave Tulsa and Oklahoma City also qualify. Ten to 12 physicians opt for this program each year.

Representatives from the Oklahoma State Medical Assn., the Oklahoma Osteopathic Assn., and the Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians are on the commission's advisory board.