Physician Loan Repayment Assistance

The Physician Loan Repayment Assistance program encourages qualified physicians to serve patients in designated shortage areas and to provide health care services to recipients under a medical assistance program.

How to Apply

What you’ll need to apply:

Your National Provider Identifier (NPI) and Texas Provider Identifier (TPI)
Student loan billing statement(s) showing eligible debt, including account holder name, account number, loan servicer name, and total outstanding debt
The name and email address of your chief administrative officer (CAO), such as a facility administrator, director of human resources, or other official who is authorized to certify your employment

Apply Here

FOR RETURNING APPLICANTS: When creating your account, you must use the same email address, first name, and last name as your previous application. After creating your account, clear your cache and then log in.

If your email or name has changed, submit a Help Desk ticket before creating a new account. Please note that changing your email address will not change your username.

Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for assistance, you must:

Be a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident.
Hold a full physician license from the Texas Medical Board, with no restrictions.
Not be in postgraduate training or fellowship.
Be eligible for board certification, and be certified by your fourth year receiving assistance.
For new applicants: at the time of application, have completed at least one year of part-time¹ or full-time² qualifying service (see below).
For returning applicants: at the time of reapplication, have previously received Physician Loan Repayment Assistance and have completed another year of part-time or full-time continuous qualifying service.

¹Part-time employment is a minimum of 20 hours per week completed over a service period.
²Full-time employment is a minimum of 32 hours a week (40 hours if also participating in the State Loan Repayment Program) completed over a service period.
Note: A service period is 12 consecutive months.

Qualifying Service

You must have completed qualifying service, providing health care services to at least one of the following:

If you work in a health professional shortage area (HPSA): Medicaid or CHIP enrollees, uninsured patients, or Medicare enrollees (except in the case of pediatricians)
- To find out if a site is located in an HPSA, go to the Health Resources and Services Administration Shortage Areas search page. The site address is where you are physically working, not where the headquarters or administration office is located.
If you don’t work in a HPSA: provided primary care (see below) in an outpatient setting and, during the service period, served a designated number of Medicaid or Texas Women’s Health Program enrollees
- An outpatient setting can be a facility, clinic, center, office, or other setting that is not part of a licensed hospital or licensed ambulatory surgical center.
Patients in a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Approved Primary Care Specialties

With the exception of psychiatrists and geriatricians, physicians must provide services in an outpatient setting to be considered primary care.

Family Medicine/Family Practice
General Internal Medicine
General Pediatrics
General Practice
Geriatrics
Medicine-Pediatrics
Obstetrics/Gynecology
Psychiatry

Assistance Amount

Your repayment assistance is based on your year in the program and your eligible loan balance at the time you first receive repayment assistance through the program.

Maximum Assistance Amounts (Based on Full-Time Service)

Year in Program	Total Loan Balance is more than $180,000	Total Loan Balance is less than $180,000
First	$30,000	16% of total loan balance
Second	$40,000	22% of total loan balance
Third	$50,000	28% of total loan balance
Fourth	$60,000	34% of total loan balance

You may be eligible for loan repayment assistance for a maximum of four years.
If you are employed part time (at least 20 hours per week), your repayment assistance will be prorated based on the proportion of hours you work compared to that of a full-time employee.
If the loan repayment assistance you receive does not cover the full amount owed, you are responsible for the remaining loan balance.
Loan repayment assistance is reported to the Internal Revenue Service by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Eligible Loans

To be eligible for repayment, your loans must:

Be evidenced by a promissory note that required you to use the loan proceeds to pay for the cost of attendance for your undergraduate, graduate, or professional education.
Not have been made during your residency or to cover costs incurred after you completed your graduate or professional education.
Not be in default at the time you apply.
Not have an existing obligation to provide service for loan forgiveness through another program.
Not be subject to repayment through another student loan repayment assistance or loan forgiveness program, or through repayment assistance provided by your employer while receiving Physician Education loan repayment assistance.

Note:  Participation in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program does not affect eligibility for Physician loan repayment assistance. PSLF requires 120 qualifying payments before loan forgiveness is considered, and verification occurs after those payments are completed. You may still receive loan repayment assistance before completing all 120 payments on your federal loans.

What to Expect After Applying

Your application will remain in a pending status until the Coordinating Board receives verification of your service from your CAO. Processing takes up to six weeks once all required documentation is received.

If additional information is needed, you will be contacted by email using the address provided on your application. If approved, the Coordinating Board will mail a paper check directly to your lender and notify you by mail. If your application is not approved, you will be notified by email and may reapply in future years.

Note: The Coordinating Board cannot send payments electronically or by Automated Clearing House (ACH).

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. You must reapply each year after you have completed a year of qualifying service to potentially receive repayment assistance for that year of service. Recipients may receive assistance for up to a maximum of four service periods. You will need to provide verification of your eligible service and updated loan information each year.

No. Funding is determined by the Texas Legislature. Applications are reviewed and ranked to determine if there is sufficient funding available to make awards to eligible applicants.

Before changing practice sites, please contact our office to discuss the impact of the change.

No. The practice site does not need to have a specific HPSA score. However, if there isn’t enough funding to offer loan repayment assistance to all eligible applicants, the score may be used to rank applications.

Yes, if they meet a qualifying service requirement. Please note that hospitals are not considered an outpatient setting and may not qualify an individual serving in a non-HPSA for loan repayment assistance.

Faculty members may be eligible if they are providing a minimum 20 hours of direct patient care per week during the service period at the practice site.

No. Psychiatrists cannot receive assistance from two state loan repayment assistance programs simultaneously.

There is no minimum number of Medicaid patients you need to see if you are practicing in an HPSA. Physicians who are conditionally approved and are not practicing in an HPSA must meet the following number of unduplicated Medicaid and/or Healthy Texas Women’s program clients:

Family Medicine – 200
Internal Medicine – 200
OB/GYN – 200
Pediatrics – 200
Psychiatry – 150
Geriatrics – 25

This information will be verified by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

No. Your eligibility for the program will be based on the last 12 calendar months before you apply.

After you submit your application, it will be held in a pending status until we receive the completed service verification form from your CAO. Once we receive all documentation, please allow up to four weeks for our team to review your application.

Additional Information

Program Statute: Texas Education Code, Title 3, Subchapter J

Program Rules: Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 23, Subchapter C

Contact Us

To speak to a customer service representative regarding loan repayment assistance, call 833-597-0454, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.

Online Inquiries: Help Desk