BILL NUMBER: S1875
SPONSOR: WALCZYK
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to creating the
medical professionals across rural New York state student loan repayment
fund pilot program
 
PURPOSE:
To authorize the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health
to create the Medical Professionals Across Rural New York State Student
Loan Repayment Fund Pilot Program.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1, to be codified as article 29-H, section 2999-ll of the public
health law, creates the fund and is divided as follows:
Section 2999-kk: Describes how funds will be administered
Section 2999-11: Describes the administration agreement that will be
created to govern the fund.
Section 2999-mm: Describes the responsibilities of each fund partic-
ipant.
Section 2999-nn: Describes the documentation that must be kept concern-
ing the fund.
Section 2999-00: Describes the required commitment to participate in the
fund.
Section 2999-pp: Describes the professionals that may participate in the
fund.
Section 2999-qq: Describes compensation of participating professionals.
Section 2999-rr: Describes how participating professionals may continue
to qualify for the fund.
Section 2999-ss: Describes conditions barring participation.
Section 2999-tt: Describes the minimum qualifications for participation.
Section 2999-uu: Describes the application criteria for participation.
Section 2999-w: Further describes the application process and the evalu-
ation of applicants. Section 2999-ww: Describes how awards shall be
announced.
Section 2999-xx: Describes how funds will be paid to participating
professionals, and conditions under which a participating professional
shall be deemed to have defaulted on their obligations.
Section 2 requires that the act take effect ninety days after it becomes
law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State's rural communities are facing a growing crisis as
licensed health and mental health care professionals graduating from
specialized programs increasingly choose to live in urban and suburban
settings. The result is a growing disparity in health outcomes between
residents of underserved rural areas compared to urban and suburban
regions. Contributing to this problem are the skyrocketing costs associ-
ated with student loans. Instead of pursuing opportunities in a
preferred rural setting, young professionals facing mountains of student
loan debt are forced to chase jobs in metro-centers. Small, rural commu-
nities throughout the state are losing generations of highly trained
professionals because the economics surrounding student loans dictate
they work elsewhere. A March 2015 report by the Association of American
Medical Colleges projects that by 2025, the US will face a shortage of
46,000 to 90,000 physicians. The problem will be especially acute in
rural areas where more than 20 percent of the population lives but only
10 percent of physicians practice. Adding to the chronic doctor short-
age is the shortage of a wide variety of other health care professionals
that threatens an already fragile rural health care system. As is
evidenced by the opioid epidemic that continues to ravage communities
throughout New York and has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These small, rural outposts lack the necessary providers to respond the
evolving nature of health care. Creating a new student loan repayment
program for health care and mental health care professionals who agree
to locate in rural areas facing critical shortages will help provide a
new recruitment tool for many nonmetropolitan hospitals, clinics and
agencies. This legislation would provide assistance to help recruit a
wide variety of professionals to consider locating in New York's rural
communities. With modem health care and mental health care systems
increasingly depending on a team approach, shortages in subspecialties
and related fields can strain rural health networks.
With New York's rural areas already facing higher rates of mortality,
disability and chronic diseases compared to urban and suburban areas,
ways to address severe staffing shortages is critical to preventing the
collapse of rural health care networks. Federal studies show the average
annual difference in death rates between metropolitan areas and rural
areas increased from about six additional deaths per 100,000 in 1989 to
82 more deaths in 2005. That dramatic difference is expected to grow as
aging rural health care providers increasingly choose to retire in the
face of rapidly growing mandates, shrinking reimbursement rates and
other difficulties unique to underserved rural areas. The student loan
repayment program would help encourage young health care and mental
health professionals to consider locating in rural areas where critical
shortages exist.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S5123-A (2017): Referred to Health
A10081/S1182 (2019): Referred to Health
S1153-A (2021): Referred to Health
S4708 (2023): Referred to Health
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect within 90 days.