Bill > S2101

This bill establishes the Medical Primary Care Scholarship Program, to be administered by the commissioner of postsecondary education, to address a crisis in primary care healthcare in Rhode Island due to shortages and an aging provider population. The program will provide scholarships for doctors for up to four years and for physician assistants and nurse practitioners for up to two years, with a maximum annual award of $70,000 for doctors and $47,000 for physician assistants and nurse practitioners. In exchange for receiving scholarship funds, recipients must agree to work in Rhode Island providing primary care services for two years for every year they received a scholarship, with the understanding that for every two years of full-time work, one year of scholarship award will be forgiven. The bill appropriates $1,000,000 for the fiscal year 2026-2027 to fund this program, with subsequent years requiring annual appropriations, and takes effect on July 1, 2026.

Budget and Finance

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