PHOENIX State lawmakers are moving to get more doctors into rural and medically underserved areas of the state.

A Senate panel voted Tuesday to expand an existing program that helps doctors repay their medical school debts if they agree to go where they are needed. SB 1194, proposed by Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, now goes to the full Senate.

Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, introduced similar legislation in the House. That measure, HB 2495, is awaiting a hearing.

The states challenged finances should not impede final approval because the expansion is structured so it would not require any additional state dollars.

Kristen Boilini, lobbyist for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, said the change permits the program to take private donations, which she said will be offered.

She said Arizona needs another 442 full-time primary care physicians, 441 dentists and 204 behavioral-health providers and psychiatrists.

That includes not just in rural areas. She said while physicians are attracted to some urban areas, there are inner-city areas in both Pima and Maricopa counties where the number of medical providers falls short.

Generally, theyre communities with high uninsured, underinsured folks, Boilini said, with a high percentage of residents getting their coverage through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the states Medicaid program. And that presents a problem of its own.

AHCCCS provider payment rates are so low, you dont get a lot of private practice groups that want to go work in those areas, she said. That makes these communities dependent on nonprofit groups and community health centers.

But even they have a hard time attracting physicians because they dont pay what a private practice in north Scottsdale is going to pay, Boilini said.

Originally posted here:

Arizona could write off more medical school debt