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Originally enacted in 1970, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) allows select health care professionals engaged in the delivery of primary care services to be reimbursed for student loans in return for establishing and maintaining their practices in geographic areas designated as “medically underserved” by the federal government. Currently, the NHSC Loan Repayment Program does not include doctors of chiropractic as eligible providers.
In 2002, at the request of ACA and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, Congress enacted language that authorized a two-year demonstration program intended to explore the feasibility of opening the program to doctors of chiropractic. The demonstration program began in 2003 and was later extended through 2007. The demonstration results are now being evaluated by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
In a March 2008 report to accompany legislation reauthorizing the NHSC, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions made it abundantly clear that doctors of chiropractic are eligible to qualify for inclusion in the NHSC Loan Repayment program. ACA fully supports the report language that will accompany bill S.901. Upon passage of S.901, doctors of chiropractic would then come become eligible for NHSC participation. Watch ACA publications for more information as it becomes available.
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