Loan forgiveness helps keep doctors in rural Oregon

Like many states, Oregon is trying to fill its need for more rural doctors. Help could soon be on the way. The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest recently became eligible to participate in a loan forgiveness program that provides as much as $35,000 per school year to recipients who "promise to practice in a rural Oregon community for each year they receive the loan," reports the Albany Democrat-Herald. "Ten percent of their clinical rotations must be in rural regions."

The Primary Health Care Loan Forgiveness Program, through the Oregon Office of Rural Health, is open to all students in the classes of 2016 and 2017, the Democrat-Herald writes. The osteopathic college had 105 new students this school year.

Eligible students are ones who "intend to go into primary care residencies, including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and general surgery," the Democrat-Herald reports. "The curriculum includes on-campus and online teaching sessions, participation in the Family Medicine Rural Health Club and a community project." (Read more)