Please urge your members of Congress to reauthorize and fund the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program before March 31, 2025, when funding expires. 

Background 

The NHSC and the THCGME program provide critical training for primary care physicians and support their placement in communities with physician shortages. Unfortunately, the support these programs provide to physicians and patients’ access to care is now at risk as Congress failed to pass long-term funding authorizations for both the NHSC and THCGME at the end of 2024. Long-term funding for the NHSC and THCGME program was included in a bipartisan, end-of-year legislative package. Unfortunately, funding for the NHSC and THCGME program was stripped out and a temporary funding patch was passed instead.

ACP has continuously urged Congress to fund and authorize the NHSC and THCGME programs. With a primary care physician shortage of 20,200 to 40,400 by 2036 and medical student debt average over $200,000, investment in these programs is needed now more than ever:

• National Health Service Corps: The NHSC awards service-oriented scholarships and loan repayment assistance to health care professionals who work in underserved communities across the country. With a field strength of over 18,000 primary care clinicians, NHSC members are providing culturally competent and effective care to over 23 million patients at over 21,000 NHSC-approved health care sites in urban, rural, and frontier areas. 
• Teaching Health Center GME: The THCGME program places residents training in primary care disciplines in community venues in ambulatory care such as community health centers (CHCs). THCGME funded 72 teaching health centers with 969 residents trained, of which 238 were internal medicine residents, a specialty that comprises the largest number of primary care physicians.

Action Requested: Please email your members of Congress and ask them to:

• NHSC: Support authorizing no less than $350 million per fiscal year through at least FY2026 in mandatory funding. NHSC funding expires on March 31, 2025.
• THCGME program: Support authorizing funding at no less than $225 million for FY2026, culminating in $300 million per fiscal year in FY2029. THCGME funding expires on March 31, 2025.