Oregon Primary Care Loan Forgiveness Program

503.494.4450
866.674.4376
ruralworkforce@ohsu.edu

The Oregon Primary Care Loan Forgiveness Program provides forgivable loans for eligible primary care professional students in exchange for a service obligation at an approved rural practice site in Oregon.

Recipients must complete one year of clinical primary care service at an approved rural Oregon site for each year of funding received.

Eligible students must:

• Be in good academic standing
• Participate in the Oregon AHEC Scholars Program or be accepted to an approved Oregon rural training track
• Be prepared to begin practice in primary care at an approved rural practice site within 90 days of graduation or completion of residency

For the purposes of this program, primary care is defined as:

• Physicians: Family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general surgery, community psychiatry, geriatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN)
• Physician Assistants: Family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general surgery, community psychiatry, geriatrics, and OB/GYN
• Nurse Practitioners: Family, adult, nurse midwife, geriatrics, pediatric, and psychiatric mental health
• Dentists: General adult and general pediatric
• Pharmacists: General pharmacy and psychiatric pharmacy

Approved practice sites must meet at least one of the following:

• Be located in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), have a Facility HPSA designation, or serve in an underserved area or area of unmet need
• Serve Medicaid and/or Medicare patients in a proportion equal to or greater than the county average
• Provide essential healthcare services to a medically underserved population, as determined by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA)

• Be located in a rural community; and
• Have a valid site application on file with the Oregon Office of Rural Health, dated within the past 12 months and have received confirmation of site qualification

Awards may cover full tuition and fees, but amounts may not exceed the highest tuition rates at publicly funded health professional training programs in Oregon.

Links to additional guidance and the online application are available on the program website.