Whether you’re a high school student trying to decide if a career in healthcare is right for you or a current medical student, below are resources that will help get you were you want to go!
The Michigan Health Council (MHC) is a nonprofit organization on a mission to ensure the future of the healthcare workforce. MHC proactively addresses the needs of healthcare leaders, professionals, employers, educators, and students. MHC has recently released their annual Workforce Index. The Michigan Healthcare Workforce Index is a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive index that assesses the “health” of 36 healthcare occupations in Michigan. Combining data from Lightcast, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) – MHC Insight was able to systematically rank healthcare occupations on four inputs - wages, growth, shortages, and turnover - to determine how each occupation is faring in our economy.
Michigan Healthcare Workforce Index
Health Professional Shortage Areas
Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) can be geographic areas, populations, or facilities. These areas have a shortage of primary, dental, or mental health care providers. Scores are on a scale of 0-25/26; a higher score indicates a greater need of providers within that area or population.
Learn more about how the Health Services and Resources Administration scores HPSAs, and use the Workforce Connector to find HPSA facilities that participate in scholarship & loan repayment programs.
How HRSA scores HPSAs Workforce Connector
Loan Repayment & Scholarship Programs
The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) supports more than 20,000 primary care medical, dental, and behavioral health providers through scholarships and loan repayment programs. For more than 50 years, they have increased access to quality health care in communities with significant health professional shortages. NHSC offers priority funding to applicants who work at NHSC-approved sites in high-need areas, as defined by a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) score.
The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program is available to Registered Nurses (RN) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) working in a public or private eligible Critical Shortage Facility (CSF) OR Nurse Faculty employed at an eligible school of nursing for two years.
The Nurse Corps Scholarship Program pays for eligible nursing students’ tuition, fees, and other educational costs. In return, the students must work at a Critical Shortage Facility when they graduate for minimum two years.
Michigan State Loan Repayment Program (MSLRP) assists medical, dental, and mental healthcare providers who continue to demonstrate their commitment to building long-term primary care practices in underserved communities designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). MSLRP will assist those selected by providing up to $300,000 in tax-free funds to repay their educational debt over a period of up to ten years.
The Behavioral Health Loan Repayment Program (BHLRP) is a medical education debt repayment program focused on incentivizing behavioral health care providers to practice in underserved areas in Michigan. Eligible providers will receive student loan repayment for providing mental health services in eligible nonprofit, outpatient practice sites, or public school-based systems. The program has a two-year service obligation.
MIDOCs is a state-funded program set up to expand graduate medical education residency positions in select specialties to recruit and retain physicians in underserved areas in the state of Michigan. MIDOCs residencies may feature a variety of enhanced curricular elements in areas such as ambulatory care, quality improvement, population health, interprofessional collaboration, and care of diverse and underserved populations. MIDOCs offers up to $75,000 in loan repayment to residents for the repayment of qualifying educational loans with an agreement to work in a medically underserved area of Michigan for 2 years post-residency.
Learn more about MIDOCS
If you’re employed by a government or not-for-profit organization, you might be eligible for the PSLF Program. The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you’ve made the equivalent of 120 qualifying monthly payments under an accepted income-based repayment plan, and while working full-time for an eligible employer.
Learn more about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
3RNet is a national job board that helps healthcare professionals find jobs in rural areas.
Starting exploring opportunities in rural Michigan today!
Pathfinder
More than ever, rural Michigan healthcare employers are looking to find skilled talent to help them meet the growing needs of the communities they serve. Use Pathfinder to help create a career roadmap, exploring labor market, wages and institutional data.
Living in Rural Michigan
What is like to live and work in rural Michigan?
The state of Michigan is graced with the riches of unspoiled nature; the world's longest freshwater coastline, lakes that feel like oceans, shimmering beaches, miles of cherry orchards, numerous wineries, glorious sunrises and sunsets, daytime skies of the deepest blue, nighttime skies scattered with stars. From scenic routes on the open road to rugged trails, from the sand-covered to the well-traveled, they all lead us to the beauty of nature and simple pleasures of rural Michigan.
Benefits you may find practicing in a rural community are:
- Full scope of practice
- Opportunity for professional responsibility in the community beyond your clinical practice
- Coworkers are like a second family
- Personal connection to patients
- Loan repayment and other financial incentive opportunities
- Team-based and value-based care initiatives are prevalent in rural practice
- Opportunity for leadership role within your practice
- Elevated status in the community
- Opportunity to expand your clinical expertise
- Greater autonomy