Hospitals receive grants related to student loans

Nov. 28—Gritman Medical Center, Syringa Hospital & Clinics and St. Mary's Health are among 16 rural health care providers that will receive grants to help pay down their student loan debts while they continue to serve in their communities.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced the awards Monday, which will be issued through December as part of the Rural Physician Incentive Program that provides loan repayment for qualifying physicians serving health professional shortage areas.

Adam Kappmeyer of Gritman (at Moscow), Kelby Wilson at Syringa (at Grangeville) and Margaret Pluskal at St. Mary's (at Cottonwood) were among the qualifying physicians serving health professional shortage areas who will benefit from the loan repayment grant.

Abner King, chief executive officer at Syringa, said the student loan repayment grant "is one of the perks we try to offer to try to entice people to come to Grangeville."

Recruiting physicians for rural areas, King added, has historically been difficult but it's become even more challenging, even in urban areas, because there are more people retiring from the workforce than entering it.

One of the challenges of drawing a physician to a rural areas is selling the area to the spouse as well.

"So, in kind of a classic scenario, we want to attract somebody that's going to stay a long time, if possible," King said. "These (grant) programs give extra funds to help with the student loans and we take every advantage to apply for these programs."

King said there's no hard and fast rule to the terms of a contract, but normally physicians sign on for at least a two-year term before the option of moving on.

Wilson, who has worked at Syringa as a rural family physician since 2019, said: "Syringa Hospital District is located in a rural, medically underserved area where the recruitment and retention of qualified family medicine physicians is both challenging and expensive. Loan repayment is one of the most important recruitment and retention tools we have to offer candidates interested in our area."

Brad Gary, spokesperson for Gritman, said in an email that expanding the number of skilled physicians and practitioners is vital to providing exceptional health care for the hospital's growing community.

"Gritman Medical Center's outpatient visits continue to grow, and access to care remains an area of focus identified in our hospital system's 2023-2025 Community Health Need Assessment," Gary said. "We're grateful to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for the support it provides through the Rural Physician Incentive Program, which gives us another tool to help recruit top-level physicians to practice in our community."

Gary noted that Kappmeyer sees patients at the Gritman Internal Medicine Clinic in downtown Moscow and has expertise in internal medicine and pediatrics. Kappmeyer grew up in Moscow, is a graduate of Logos School and served as one of the hospital's junior volunteers as he was growing up.

"We're excited that he chose to return to Moscow to start his practice," Gary said.

Amy Hirtle, rural health director for the Rural Health and Primary Care state office, said loan forgiveness programs "are an effective mechanism to recruit and retain providers to serve our rural and underserved communities. Since the program's inception in 2013 over 75% of recipients remain practicing in Idaho beyond their service obligation to help meet the health care needs of Idahoans."

An appointed board called the Rural Healthcare Access and Rural Physician Incentive Program Grant Review Board met Sept. 28 in Boise to review applicants and select awardees. Physicians may receive a maximum of $100,000 over a four-year period toward their academic debt.

The program is funded by fees assessed to physicians attending the University of Washington and University of Utah medical schools occupying state-supported seats. Preference is given to physicians who paid into the fund, but funding isn't limited to those candidates. The state legislature also appropriates funds to support the program.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.