What is the National Health Service Corps (NHSC)?

National Health Service Corps programs provide scholarships and student loan repayment for primary care providers in the medical, dental, and behavioral health fields who agree to practice in areas of the country that have health professional shortages. In 2015, more than 9,600 National Health Service Corps clinicians were providing care to more than 10.2 million people who live in rural, urban, and frontier communities at more than 5,000 NHSC-approved sites. Corps members fulfill their service requirement by working at NHSC-approved sites located in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). Completion of all the requirements of the program allow the applicant to obtain up to $50,000 in loan forgiveness.

Eligible disciplines include physicians, nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists, psychiatrists, health service psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, psychiatric nurse specialists, marriage and family therapists, and licensed professional counselors.

The NHSC is administered by the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

What is an NHSC-approved site?

NHSC-approved sites are health care facilities that provide comprehensive outpatient, ambulatory, primary health care services to populations residing in HPSAs. Related inpatient services may be provided by NHSC-approved Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). To become an NHSC-approved site, most sites must submit an NHSC Site Application for review and approval

What this means to the Johnstown area is the ability to attract high level mental health professionals to provide better services to our residents.  This is a nationally recognized program that helps in recruitment and retention of health professionals.