Recently, two federal programs that provide loan repayment to providers in Kansas working in underserved areas obtained enhanced federal funding, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program and the Kansas State Loan Repayment Program.

On September 1, 2009, the Kansas Primary Care Office received federal funding through the National Health Service Corps for its State Loan Repayment Program. This funding doubled the amount of money available to health professionals serving in underserved communities and will allow for more State Loan Repayment Program awards. The State Loan Repayment Program assists eligible health professionals with up to $60,000 for the repayment of educational loans in exchange for an initial two-year service commitment in a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area.

On June 2, 2009, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) launched the expanded Recovery Act NHSC Loan Repayment Program. The NHSC offers a number of programs to encourage primary care health professionals to practice in America's underserved communities. Primary care health professionals in return receive up to $50,000 for loan repayment for educational loans. The minimum commitment is for two years. The site must be an approved National Health Service Corps site before a clinician may apply. Sites must be located in a Health Professional Shortage Area and have a sliding fee scale.

Information on both programs is available on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website at http://www.kdheks.gov/olrh/FundLoan.html. Further information on the NHSC is available at: http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/. Also, please feel free to contact Barbara Huske in the Kansas Primary Care Office at (785) 296-2742 or bhuske@kdheks.gov.

Robert Stiles, Primary Care
Bureau of Local and Rural Health
Kansas Department of Health and Environment

The Health Care Coalition of Lafayette County (HCC) has been developing the parameters of a county-wide health insurance co-op for the past two years. During the research phase of the program, we were able to determine that nearly 8% of our county was uninsured and that more small businesses were being forced to cut their benefits because of the rising cost of health insurance.

Because small businesses are not able to spread risk as easily as large (50+ lives), we determined that by “pooling” small businesses together we could not only spread the risk but also add more lives to the plan, making the co-op more viable. We have been working with our local health care leadership to provide incentives for the county-wide co-op plan including healthcare assessments or physicals for primary care and mental health, access to a health risk assessment on our workplace wellness website as well as transportation to and from local healthcare appointments to those individuals who financially qualify. These incentives set our plan apart from your average local insurance agency.

The goal of the HCC’s insurance co-op is to encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors, while providing incentives for patients to get routine exams relative to primary care and mental health service. The workplace wellness website also provides tools and resources for small businesses that purchase the plan.

The HCC continues to follow federal plans for health insurance reform—especially as it relates to advocating for small business options and more resources for rural communities.

Toniann Richard
Health Care Coalition of Lafayette County
www.HCCNetwork.org