Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program

The Kentucky State Office of Rural Health manages and provides oversight for the development, implementation and coordination of the Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program (KSLRP). The KSLRP is committed to improving the health of the commonwealth's underserved. We unite communities in need with caring primary health professionals and support their efforts to build accessible and sustainable systems of care. The KSLRP is a matching program that provides loan repayment for educational loans incurred by primary health professionals; in return, the professionals make a commitment of two years of full-time work for a sponsoring organization in a federally designated health professional shortage area. The loan repayment amount is determined by the sponsoring health care organization and the health professionals and can be up to $35,000 a year for two years for a total of $70,000. Eligible applicants are health professionals, who are U.S. citizens, have a current Kentucky license and meet one of the following disciplines; Doctor of Allopathic Medicine; Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine; General Practice Dentists (D.D.S. or D.M.D.); Primary Care Certified Nurse Practitioners; Certified Nurse-Midwives; Primary Care Physicians Assistants; Registered Clinical Dental Hygienists; Clinical or Counseling Psychologists (Ph.D. or equivalent); Licensed Clinical Social Workers; Psychiatric Nurse Specialists; Mental Health Counselors; Licensed Professional Counselors; Marriage and Family Therapists. The eligible primary care physician specialties are family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and general psychiatry. Kentucky is a state that has a significantly higher than average proportion of the population that is subject to chronic illness and death and has a higher than average percentage of the uninsured. Kentucky is also a largely rural state with 87 of its 120 counties considered to be rural. Ninety-seven of Kentucky's 120 counties are medically underserved areas/populations (MUNMUP). Seventyeight counties have a MUAlMUP designation for the whole county and 19 have a partial or low-income designation. Seventy-seven of the 120 counties have a Health Professional Shortage Area designation. In 2006 a medical student graduating from the University of Kentucky had incurred on average an educational debt of $106,000. Future goals for the program are to increase the number of health professionals in underserved areas. 1