Arra - State Loan Repayment Program

 

For medically underserved populations, as funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). To increase the availability of primary health care in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) by assisting States in operating programs for the repayment of educational loans of health professionals in return for their practice in HPSAs.

Deleted 09/09/2014 (Archived.) 93.402 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Office: Health Resources and Services Administration Direct Payments for Specified Use; Project Grants Fiscal Year 2013: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2014: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2015: No Current Data Available American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Law 111-5. , Public Law 111-5. Eligible entities include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Applicants for State programs must have completed a course of study required to practice independently without supervision, as one of the following health care professionals: Doctors of Allopathic Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine, General Practice Dentists (D.D.S. or D.M.D.), Pediatric Dentists, Primary Care Certified Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse-Midwives, Primary Care Physician Assistants, Registered Clinical Dental Hygienists, Health Service Psychologist (formerly Clinical or Counseling Psychologists (Ph.D. or equivalent), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (master’s or doctoral degree in social work), Psychiatric Nurse Specialists, Mental Health Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors (master’s or doctoral degree with a major study in counseling), Marriage and Family Therapists (master’s or doctoral degree with a major study in marriage and family therapy). The primary care specialties approvable for physicians are: family medicine (and osteopathic general practice), internal medicine, including geriatricians, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and geriatrics and general psychiatry. General practitioners (physicians who have not completed residency training programs) are not eligible for funding under the SLRP. The primary care specialties approval for nurse practitioners and physician assistants are: adult, family, pediatrics, psychiatry/mental health, geriatrics, or women’s health.

Participants must provide full-time clinical service for a minimum of two years in a public or non-profit entity located in a federally designated health professional shortage area (HPSA).

Refer to the NHSC State Loan Repayment Program Guidance for specific requirements. Applicants should review the individual HRSA funding opportunity announcement issued under this CFDA program for any required proof or certifications which must be submitted prior to or simultaneous with submission of an application package. OMB Circular No. A-87 applies to this program. SLRP grantees may need State agency approval prior to submitting an application to a Federal agency. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance, if the State has selected the program for review. OMB Circular No. A-102 applies to this program. This program is excluded from coverage under OMB Circular No. A-110. HRSA requires all applicants to apply electronically through Grants.gov.

All qualified applications will be forwarded to an objective review committee. Based on the advice of the objective review committee, the HRSA program official with delegated authority is responsible for final selection and funding decisions.
Notification is made in writing by a Notice of Award. Contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines. Approximately 120 days. Not Applicable. Subsequent funding depends upon the availability of funds and program performance. Renewals are funded through a non-competitive process each year. It is anticipated that there will be no ongoing support of SLRP grant activities after the end of the two-year project period. For new and competing continuation grants the following criteria will be used to evaluate State applications to determine which States are to be supported under this notice: (a) The extent of the State's need for health professionals consistent with the health professions and specialties identified later in this notice; (b) the extent to which special consideration will be extended to federally designated HPSAs with large minority populations; (c) the number and type of providers the State proposes to support through this program; (d) the appropriateness of the proposed placements of State LRP recipients (e.g., consistency and coordination with State-based plans to improve access to primary health services for the underserved communities and individuals); (e) the appropriateness of the qualifications, the administrative, and managerial ability of the staff to implement the proposed project; (f) the suitability of the State's approach and the degree to which the plan of a State is coordinated with Federal, State, and other programs for meeting the State's health professional needs and resources, including mechanisms for ongoing evaluation of the program's activities; (g) the source and plans for the use of the nonfederal match (the degree to which the nonfederal match exceeds the minimum requirements or has increased over time and the amount of the match relative to the needs and resources of the State); (h) for competing continuation applicants only, the grantee's progress in achieving stated goals and objectives for the previous year's grant; this includes a progress report on the impact the State LRP placements have had on the State's short-term and long-term professional needs: (i) an assessment of the reasons for initial breaches by health professionals of repayment contracts; and (j) the grantee's history of compliance with reporting requirements. Noncompeting continuation applications will be evaluated on the grantee's progress in achieving stated goals and objectives for the previous year's grant; this includes a progress report on the impact the State LRP placements have had on the State's short-term and long-term professional needs: (i) and assessment of the reasons for initial breaches by health professionals of repayment contracts; and (ii) the grantee's history of compliance with reporting requirements. Funds under this grant must only be used to repay the qualifying educational loans of health professionals who have entered into State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) contract with the States. Funds cannot be used for the following purposes: costs of administering the program, State matching funds, or any other purpose. All projects funded with ARRA funds are subject to special quarterly reporting requirements as outlined in Section 1512 of the Recovery Act.

Recipient States must submit: (1) a Financial Report within 90 days of the end of each budget period; (2) Semi-Annual Field Strength Reports through the HRSA Electronic Handbooks System (EHBs); (3) non-competing continuation application(s) report through the EHBs; (4) a Final Report along with an annual financial report in the format approved under OMB Circular 0915 0004. All BHPr grantees are required to submit a final report within 90 days after the project period ends. Cash reports are not applicable. See above. Expenditure reports are not applicable. Performance monitoring is not applicable. In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133. Grantees are required to maintain grant accounting records 3 years after the date they submit the Federal Financial Report (FFR). If any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit or other action involving the award has been started before the expiration of the 3-year period, the records shall be retained until completion of the action and resolution of all issues which arise from it, or until the end of the regular 3-year period, whichever is later. Statutory formulas are not applicable to this program.
Matching Requirements: Percent: 50.%. Matching Requirement: Fifty-percent (50%). States must agree to make available (directly or through donations from public or private entities) non-Federal contributions in cash toward SLRP contracts in an amount not less than $1 for each $1 of Federal funds provided in the grant. A State may not use any Federal funds or in-kind contributions to satisfy the non-Federal match requirement. A State must verify that contributions from sources other than State appropriated funds are non-Federal. States may use non-Federal funds in excess of the $1 for $1 minimum match to supplement the repayment of qualifying loans of health professionals.

The Federal share must be used to repay the government and commercial loans of health professionals for tuition, educational expenses and living expenses described in Section 338B(g)(1) of the Public Health Service Act. States must assume administrative costs.
MOE requirements are not applicable to this program. Applicants may propose a project period of up to 2 years. However, awards are distributed in annual budget periods subject to availability of funds. States are asked to commit the full amount of funding for their loan repayment awards to practitioners in the current fiscal year to avoid out-year commitments for additional Federal funds. See the following for information on how assistance is awarded/released: Grantee drawdown funds, as necessary, from the Payment Management System (PMS). PMS is the centralized web based payment system for HHS awards. None. Division of National Health Service Corps, Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 8-37, Rockville, MD 20857. Telephone: (301) 594-4400. Public Information Phone: (1-800) 221-9393. Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 8-37, Rockville, Maryland 20857 Phone: (301) 594-4400 http://www.hrsa.gov 75-0351-0-1-550. (Project Grants) FY 12 $0; FY 13 est $0; and FY 14 est $0 Not Applicable. This program is subject to the provisions of 45 CFR Part 92 for State, local and tribal governments and 45 CFR Part 74 for institutions of higher education, hospitals, other nonprofit organizations and commercial organizations, as applicable.

HRSA awards are subject to the requirements of the HHS Grants Policy Statement (HHS GPS) that are applicable based on recipient type and purpose of award. The HHS GPS is available at http://www.hrsa.gov/grants. Not Applicable.