The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians made a hard push for inclusion of language in the state budget bill (House Bill 166) that would fix a problem that made Ohio’s medical schools hesitant to promote Choose Ohio First Primary Care scholarships to medical students. Success was achieved on July 17 when the state budget bill passed the Ohio General Assembly with the desired provision.
The provision generally delays the medical schools’ repayment of the Choose Ohio First Award when terms of the award have been violated, but applies only to the Primary Care Medical Student component of the program. Until this fix, medical schools were obligated to repay awards before they had been collected from the recipient who defaulted on the terms.
The House-passed budget bill included corrective language but the Senate had removed the language in their version of the budget. Conferees agreed to leave the desired language in the version that was sent to Governor DeWine for his signature.
Repayment terms on scholarship defaults had been so onerous to medical schools that they were hesitant and/or unwilling to promote the scholarships to students. This language alleviates those concerns so that students training for careers in primary care can once again benefit from Choose Ohio First Primary Care Scholarships.