This bill, the Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care (SPARC) Act, adds a new loan repayment program to Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the HRSA Administrator, must make agreements with specialty medicine physicians to repay eligible student loans if the physician agrees to work full time for six years in a rural community that is experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians. The Secretary may also run a similar program for non-physician specialty health care providers.
Payments are 1/6 of the principal and interest on eligible loans for each year of obligated service, with the remainder paid after the sixth year. Total payments to any individual cannot exceed $250,000. Eligible loans include education loans for specialty medicine, Federal Direct Stafford, Federal Direct PLUS, unsubsidized Stafford, consolidation loans, Federal Perkins Loans, and other federal loans the Secretary permits. Non-physician participants may not receive other federal health-care loan forgiveness programs for the same service, and no more than 15% of program funds for a year may go to non-physician providers.
Participants must commit to six years of full-time service with no more than one year passing between covered years. The Secretary may set a liquidated damages formula for breaches, but failing to complete the full service term alone is not a breach if the participant completed in good faith the years that were paid. The Secretary must report to Congress not later than five years after enactment and then every other year through fiscal year 2033 on participant practice locations and the program's impact. HRSA must update public data on the supply of specialty medicine physicians and non-physician specialty providers. The bill authorizes ‘‘such sums as may be necessary’’ for fiscal years 2025 through 2034.
The bill authorizes "such sums as may be necessary" to carry out the program for fiscal years 2025 through 2034. The program limits payments to $250,000 per individual and allows up to 15% of annual program funds to be used for non-physician awards. No publicly available information on total projected program costs or budget estimates is in the bill text.
The bill’s stated purpose is to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing shortages of specialty physicians by offering loan repayment in exchange for six years of full-time service. It also includes a mechanism to include non-physician specialty providers and requires reporting to Congress on program locations and impacts.
No publicly available information.