Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) President Teresa Zryd, MD, MSPH, FAAFP, has written a letter on behalf of the membership, in support of the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) application for the Health Resources and Services Administration, State Loan Repayment Program funding opportunity (HRSA-22-048). The intent of this program is to assist the state’s operating loan repayment programs for primary care physicians working in Health Professional Shortage Areas.
The OAFP works closely with the Ohio Primary Care Office within the ODH to promote the availability of this program to family physicians who are interested in caring for underserved populations.
According to the Robert Graham Center for Primary Care Studies, to maintain current rates of utilization, Ohio specifically will need an additional 681 primary care physicians (PCP) by 2030, a 8% increase compared to the state’s current (as of 2010) 7,783 PCP workforce. Ohio’s current population to PCP ratio is 1482:1. Components of Ohio’s increased need for PCPs include 410 PCPs from increased utilization due to aging and 218 PCPs due to a greater insured population following the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Pressures from a growing, aging, increasingly insured population call on Ohio to address current and growing demand for PCPs to adequately meet health care needs.
Dr. Zryd states in her letter, “The Ohio Physician Loan Repayment program has an impressive track record in helping to place primary care physicians in areas of great need. We continue to support this program as a means to provide primary care to low-income residents of underserved communities in predominately poor inner-city and rural areas and those in geographically remote rural areas.”