U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is calling on the state’s healthcare providers to promote federal scholarship and loan repayment funding for healthcare workers. [Health News Illinois 1.25.2022]

In a letter sent last week to over a dozen state health associations, Durbin said the funding is available as part of $1 billion allocated in the American Rescue Plan’s National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps programs.

“The pandemic has underscored the long-term challenges in our healthcare delivery system, and it is my hope that this significant new funding and emphasis on recruiting a diverse workforce can help begin to close gaps and promote equity,” Durbin said in the letter.

There were more than 800 trained professionals providing care in urban and rural parts of Illinois through the programs last fall, according to Durbin’s office. 

 The programs provide scholarship and loan repayment options to qualified primary care medical, dental and behavioral health clinicians.

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