National Health Service Corps Resources

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is committed to improving the health of the Nation's underserved. NHSC unites communities in need with caring health professionals.

Approximately 50 million people live in communities without access to primary health care. NHSC is working to change this by helping medically underserved communities recruit and retain primary care clinicians, including dental and mental and behavioral health professionals, to serve in their community.

More than 27,000 health professionals have served with NHSC since 1972. Current field strength totals more than 5,000 clinicians/health care professionals whose careers are influencing the outcomes of underserved populations and communities. Many of these clinicians have remained in service after fulfilling their initial NHSC commitments.

If your community is

• Rural or urban, serving high-need populations
• Designated as having a shortage area for primary care, mental health, or dental health services
• Currently employing or seeking to employ NHSC primary health care clinicians
• Developing innovative programs to reach the medically underserved

NHSC can help!

How NHSC Can Help Your Community

NHSC helps underserved communities recruit and retain dedicated clinicians to meet their residents’ health care needs. It can help your community do this by assisting in your efforts to:

• Build community partnerships
· Design and implement a discounted fee schedule or other means for providing affordable care
• Maximize revenue from Federal programs such as the Rural Health Clinic and Federally Qualified Health Center Programs
• Identify ways to support uncompensated care through other grant programs (State and/or Federal) to ensure that your site remains fiscally sound
• Establish an integrated system of care that includes the uninsured and underinsured
• Link with other communities and sites that have "done it"

How will your community benefit?

Working with the NHSC, your community will have the opportunity to:

• Post vacancies and site profiles on the NHSC Web site
• Receive referrals of clinicians seeking employment in your area
• Develop linkages to academic institutions and other organizations and resources
• Receive community and site development assistance
• Network with other NHSC sites
• Gain access to academic resources and network with State and regional organizations through the NHSC Student/Resident Experiences And Rotations in Community Health program

Some of the clinicians recruited are obligated to serve in community-based systems of care in return for scholarship or loan repayment support. Many NHSC clinicians remain in underserved communities after fulfilling their NHSC service commitments.

To qualify as an NHSC site that may hire scholars or loan repayers, you must complete a NHSC Recruitment and Retention Assistance Form and fax or mail it to the NHSC.

So take the next step! Call 1-800-221-9393 or go to the web site http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov/ to learn more about:

• How to apply for HPSA designation
• How to apply for recruitment and retention assistance
• Read the Hiring an NHSC Clinician fact sheet
• New – How to apply to receive an NHSC Ready Responder
• Read the NHSC Recruitment Assistance fact sheet
• Read the NHSC Loan Repayment fact sheet

More About NHSC Loan Repayment Program (LRP)

For the loan repayment cycle, applicants for loan repayment must submit applications and all supporting documentation by March 30 (postmark date). This same deadline applies to health centers that are interested in being listed as NHSC sites . Again, sites must complete the NSHC Recruitment and Retention Assistant Form. Sites are generally notified within four weeks if they qualify.

Awards will be made to eligible applicants working at approved NHSC sites with specified HPSA scores (these vary from year to year). Remaining NHSC LRP awards will be given by decreasing HPSA scores as funds remain available. Even if your site does not have the preferred score, go ahead and apply, since loans aare awarded based both on scores and on availability of funds.

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Click here to see Frequently Asked Questions about the loan repayment program.

National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Ambassadors

The NHSC Ambassador Program is a membership organization comprised of a dedicated group of volunteers on campuses and in communities across the Nation. These volunteers, or “Ambassadors,” work in partnership with the NHSC to improve the health of the Nation’s underserved. Ambassadors self-identify as either Campus-based, Community-based, or both. Together, these Ambassadors provide a “Continuum of Support” for students and clinicians who are dedicated to providing uncompromised healthcare services to areas across the country that lack an adequate number of healthcare providers.

Campus-based Ambassadors can help make all the difference in a student's selection of and preparation for a career dedicated to those in need. These Ambassadors work on campus to promote careers in primary care and to support and train interested students. Community-based Ambassadors also play a vital role for students and clinicians dedicated to serving in areas where more healthcare professionals are needed. These Ambassadors work in or for underserved areas and/or have an affiliation with a community organization that is committed to the underserved, so they serve as a valuable community link for both clinicians in service, as well as students in training.

The common denominator of the Ambassadors, whether Campus or Community-based, is that they are passionate about promoting primary care careers in service to the underserved and understand what it takes to both enter into this field and to sustain a career in it. Ambassadors are vital partners in the NHSC goal of meeting the Nation's need for highly trained, culturally competent primary care clinicians to ensure that all Americans have access to health care. The efforts of this coalition of volunteers are invaluable to the NHSC mission of improving the health of the Nation’s underserved.

Go to the Ambassador web site at http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov/ambassadors/ to get more information.

NHSC Opportunities/Resources for Health Professions Students and Practicing Clinicians

If you are a primary health care clinician who wants to make a difference in a community of greatest need, the NHSC is looking for you. NHSC is currently recruiting primary care professionals, including dental and mental and behavioral health clinicians.

· NHSC Scholarships
Students dedicated to practicing primary care in communities of greatest need can compete for educational scholarships. In return for this scholarship support, they must agree to practice in communities across the Nation where need is the greatest.

· Medical Spanish: Equipping Health Care Professionals to Serve Bilingual Communities
Many NHSC sites need staff who can serve bilingual communities. Medical Spanish training programs throughout the world offer a chance for immersion in a Spanish-speaking culture, learning the language through interaction. Many programs even include chances for clinical rotations conducted in Spanish, giving students the chance to practice classroom knowledge in nearby hospitals.

· NHSC Loan Repayment Program (LRP)
This program gives fully trained health professionals who are dedicated to serving the underserved and have qualifying educational loans the opportunity to compete for repayment of those loans if they choose to serve in a community of greatest need.

· U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps—NHSC Ready Responders. As a member of this select group of family practice physicians and dentists, you will serve where the needs are the greatest and prepare to respond to national and regional health emergencies.

Student/Resident Experiences and Rotations in Community Health (SEARCH)

The SEARCH program provides health professions students and residents with opportunities to work on interdisciplinary health care teams. Currently, 21 states and U.S. territories offer SEARCH programs, extending a unique, hands-on, primary care training experience working with people in underserved rural and urban areas. Applicants who qualify for the program will be placed in a community where they can make a difference through NHSC's network of primary care associations and primary care offices.

Benefits for students and residents:

• Training in culturally diverse community-based systems of care
• Working with patients and communities to help them reach beneficial health decisions
• Learning about culturally competent, community-responsive health care
• Gaining skills in delivering primary health care services by working with mentors

Benefits for communities:

• Gaining access to academic resources
• Networking with State and regional organizations
• Assistance to develop and perform health promotion and disease prevention activities
• Recruitment of future health care clinicians
• Preceptorship opportunities for medical staff

Click here for a list of all the SEARCH Programs.