Deadline to Apply for Loan Repayment Program Is April 7
[Posted 03/23/06]

The deadline to submit an application for this year’s Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program is April 7. Applications can be downloaded at the medical board's website.

In addition to a salary, physicians selected for the program will be eligible for medical school loan repayment grants of up to $105,000 in exchange for a three-year service commitment in a medically underserved area of the state. The list of “eligible practice settings” includes official “health professionals shortage areas” (HPSA) and federally qualified “health center look-alikes,” community health centers, migrant health centers, and public housing centers.

The law requires that most participants be selected from the specialty areas of family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology. Up to 20 percent of the participants may be selected from other specialties.

CMA was able to secure in the 2005-2006 budget $3 million in tobacco tax money to fund this year’s program. The association is still seeking a permanent funding source. Created under a CMA-sponsored law in 2002, the program was renamed in honor of Thompson, CMA’s longtime vice president of government relations, who passed away in August 2004 after a short but precipitous battle with cancer.

A CMA-sponsored bill (AB 327) that took effect on January 1 authorizes the medical board to invite physicians, as part of the licensing and renewal process, to make a voluntary $50 contribution to the loan repayment program. CMA encourages physicians to donate to this very important program.

Contact: Joe Greaves, 916/444-5532 or jgreaves@cmanet.org.