Geriatricians Loan Forgiveness
Background
As he has done in recent years, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
is planning to reintroduce the “Geriatricians Loan Forgiveness
Act,” which would extend the National Health Service
Corps Loan Repayment Program to geriatric training in the
109th Congress. Senator Reid has long been a strong supporter
of measures to improve access to both geriatric and mental
health services. For the first time, the bill will also be
introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).
This legislation, which AAGP strongly supports, would amend
the Public Health Service Act to include each year of fellowship
training in geriatric medicine or geriatric psychiatry as
a year of obligated service under the National Health Service
Corps Loan Repayment Program. Specifically it would forgive
$35,000 of education debt incurred by medical students for
each year of advanced training required to obtain a certificate
of added qualifications in geriatric medicine or psychiatry.
The “Geriatricians Loan Forgiveness Act” is intended
to provide incentives for physicians to enter the fields of
geriatric medicine and geriatric psychiatry and to alleviate
the serious shortage in those fields both now and in the future.
AAGP Position
AAGP strongly supports legislation to allow geriatric fellows
to include fellowship training as part of their obligated
service under the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment
Program.
The complex problems associated with aging require a supply
of physicians with special training in geriatrics. Although
geriatric psychiatry is a relatively small medical specialty,
it is one for which demand is growing rapidly as the population
ages and the “baby boom” generation nears retirement.
Currently, issues of aging, including geriatric mental health,
are inadequately emphasized at the medical school, internship
and residency levels. It is critical that action be taken
now to alleviate the serious shortage of physicians and psychiatrists
trained to meet the special needs of older people. This legislation
would provide important incentives for medical graduates to
enter geriatric specialties.
March 2005
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