New York has awarded $48.3 million in student loan repayment assistance to 352 health care professionals who commit to serving Medicaid members or uninsured patients for four years. The awards are intended to help fill shortages in primary care, psychiatry, dentistry and nursing across the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the Healthcare Access Loan Repayment Program awards Thursday. Recipients were selected from nearly 900 applicants based on specialty, geography, ability to provide care in a language other than English and other criteria, according to the governor's office.
The state did not identify the selected providers or say how many will work in the Finger Lakes in the announcement. It said 60% of awardees serve a designated Health Professional Shortage Area, a measure of where the program's workforce incentives are being directed.
Awards tied to four years of service
The group includes 99 psychiatrists, 43 dentists, 76 primary care physicians and 134 nurse practitioners. The state gave added priority to certain roles, including psychiatrists who treat children and adolescents and dentists who serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
All recipients must work for four years serving New York Medicaid members and/or uninsured people. The program pays up to $300,000 toward eligible student loans for psychiatrists, up to $100,000 for primary care physicians and dentists, and up to $50,000 for nurse practitioners. Those are maximum amounts, not a uniform payment to every awardee.
Forty-five percent of the selected providers offer care in a language other than English. Together, those providers represent 29 languages, the governor's office said. The announcement did not provide a breakdown by county, facility or individual award amount.
The awards seek to address a gap between having health coverage and being able to find a clinician. Hochul said the loan assistance is meant to draw professionals into high-demand roles while giving patients in underserved communities more reliable access to care.
State Health Commissioner James McDonald framed the awards as an investment in the health care workforce. State Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri said reducing education debt is one way to attract clinicians to the Medicaid safety net and keep them in those roles over time. The release did not present measured patient outcomes from this round of awards.
Program is part of a larger workforce effort
The loan repayment program operates under New York's federal Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration waiver. Another initiative under that waiver, the Career Pathways Training Program, supports education and career advancement for physical health, behavioral health and social care workers.
Launched in 2024 with $646 million in federal funding, the training program can cover tuition, textbooks and academic and career support across 13 eligible occupational titles. Participants commit to serving Medicaid members for three years, a different service term from the four-year loan repayment awards.
More than 14,000 people have enrolled in Career Pathways Training, according to the governor's office. The state described the two initiatives together as a nearly $700 million investment in its health workforce; that combined figure should not be confused with the $48.3 million in newly announced loan repayment awards.
Several lawmakers endorsed the program in statements included with the announcement. Sen. Patricia Fahy pointed to dwindling access to care in some rural and urban areas, while Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara said insurance alone does not help a patient who cannot find a doctor, dentist or mental health provider nearby. Their comments described the intended effect of the awards, not a verified count of new appointments or providers already in place.
The state said additional HEALR program information is available through the Health Department. The award announcement gave no new application deadline or date for a subsequent funding round.
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