South Carolina Rural Incentive Grant Program Now Accepting Applications

South Carolina AHEC Rural Incentive Grants Now Accepting Applications

The Rural Incentive Grant Program was initiated by the South Carolina Legislature in 1989 to address the maldistribution of clinicians in rural and underserved South Carolina communities.

The program provides incentive grants to eligible providers who contract to practice for four years in a rural or underserved area of South Carolina. Eligible health professionals include: primary care physicians (Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and OB/Gyn); general surgeons and psychiatrists; credentialed nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants.

The amount of the incentive grant will vary—physicians are eligible for a total of $60,000-$100,000 (minimum-maximum) and advanced practice providers are eligible for a total of $30,000-$50,000 (minimum-maximum) depending upon the type of practice setting and the population of the county.

All recipients must be U.S. citizens and licensed by the State of South Carolina and board certified. Applications are encouraged from residents who will be completing their training within the year, but it is expected that the resident will become board certified.

Providers who have previously received an award from the Rural Physician Incentive Grant Program or the Rural Physician Loan Repayment Program are not eligible. Providers must also have practiced in the community for less than five years to be considered. Clinicians working in state prisons may qualify. Half-time options are also available.

A recruitment incentive grant is also available to residents graduating from a South Carolina Family Medicine Residency Program and going into practice in one of the state’s whole county Geographic Health Professional Shortage Areas. Due to a limited number of slots, these incentive grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Applications for incentive grants are due by March 15, 2020.
For more information about the program, please visit the South Carolina AHEC Recruitment and Retention Programs webpage.

Comments

Marchek Siblings Stay Connected With Upstate AHEC Through Academic Journey

A pair of siblings from Greer are giving back to current Upstate AHEC Health Careers students after completing the program themselves. Alex Marchek, MD is in his first year as a family medicine resident at Prisma Health Seneca. His younger sister by two years, Anna Marchek, is a second-year medical student at Edward Via College of Medicine (VCOM) Carolinas. “My mom likes to say she did good,” Anna joked. “Both of her kids are going to be doctors. She went two-for-two.” Anna (left) and Alex (right) Marchek are pictured with Nita Donald, Executive Director of Upstate AHEC. While Alex and Anna have both chosen to pursue medicine as a career, their interest in healthcare developed differently. Alex describes his discovery of health sciences as a slow realization. “It was definitely something that was on my radar really young,” said Alex. “My parents will say when I was six years old, I was talking about doing something in medicine. I had some really great science teachers in elementary, m

Pee Dee AHEC Clinical Placements Help Students See Challenges – and Opportunities – of Rural Primary Care

Third-year medical student Omar Guerrero didn’t find his passion for a career in healthcare until he began shadowing health professionals as an undergraduate student. “I just knew that I really loved science and working with my hands,” said Guerrero, who double-majored in Public Health and Cellular & Molecular Biology while at the University of South Florida. It all clicked for him once he was able to observe physicians in their encounters with patients. “I saw there was a real need for Spanish-speaking physicians,” said Guerrero. “There’s a lot of disconnect between providers and Spanish-speaking patients and I thought that was definitely an area that I could make a difference in.” Now in his third year at A.T. Still University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, Guerrero is doing a clinical placement at Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. in Richland. Guerrero was connected with Pee Dee AHEC and their Health Professions Student (HPS) program wh

Maternal and Infant Health Module Sprout Available on AHEC Learning Portal

In an effort to help improve maternal and infant health outcomes in South Carolina, SC AHEC has developed a new educational module titled Sprout , which serves as a collection of information, tools and resources available in the state to support healthy mothers and babies. The module, created in partnership with the SC Office of Rural Health’s (SCORH) Family Solutions and March of Dimes of SC , can be found on the AHEC Learning Portal at www.scahec.net/learn/sprout . Sprout is an expansion from SC AHEC’s routine educational programming, as the module is targeted toward community members instead of health professionals. To make sure information is reaching all members of the public, the program simplifies or defines many terms that are used commonly in healthcare and is written in plain language that non-healthcare professionals can easily understand. “The goal is for any resident of South Carolina who is interested in supporting healthy moms and babies in their own community

South Carolina AHEC News & Updates

Search This Blog