A Temporary Adventure Becomes
a
Full-Time Career – Meet LRP Recipient Miles Rudd, MD
In his third year of residency, Miles Rudd, M.D. had a plan for his medical career: Take a different path, and go on a “temporary adventure.” Find an out-of-the-ordinary position in a place where he could work with an underserved population for a couple of years, then return to his native North Carolina to go into private practice.
But something interesting happened: Miles Rudd found his career niche when he joined the Indian Health Service. On the Oregon reservation of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Dr. Rudd discovered the personal and professional satisfaction of working as a public health professional; and with a financial boost from the IHS Loan Repayment Program, he was able to turn his “temporary adventure” into a permanent career. Read More
Back to Top 
LRP Contract Announcements
and Updates
Contract Requirements
After you have been through the process of applying for and being awarded an Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program (IHSLRP) contract, there are a few administrative requirements to keep in mind:
- Your service obligation is to provide full-time clinical service for a minimum of two years.
- The effective date of your IHSLRP contract is the date your agreement is signed by IHS. If your contract is signed before you report to work, then your effective date is the date you begin working. If you already work for IHS or another Indian program, your effective date is the date that your agreement is signed.
- Your LRP payment will be made approximately four months after your acceptance into LRP.
- The discipline indicated on your IHSLRP contract continues throughout your clinical service obligation.
Extending Your Resources and Participation
Thinking of extending your LRP contract with IHS? If you are a recipient who still may need some additional financial support from your original LRP contract, then you might be eligible to extend your contract on a year-to-year basis if:
- Loan repayment funds are available.*
- Priority staffing needs of IHS or the Indian health program would continue to be met by an extension of your service.
- You have eligible health professions educational loans that are not paid for under our initial contract.
*Subject to the availability of funds appropriated by the United States Congress.
Back to Top
Apply Early for Extensions
If your IHSLRP contract expires on or before September 2008, you should apply now. Extensions are approved on a rolling acceptance schedule, so make sure you get your requests in as soon as possible. When applying to extend your IHSLRP contract, you will need to:
Provide a payment history from your bank or other lending institution showing that you have made the maximum payment from IHSLRP toward the outstanding debt since your acceptance into the program.
Make sure that the total length of your service obligation to IHS is not greater than the number of years required for repayment of your health professions educational loans at a rate of up to $20,000 per year.
For more specific details on contract renewals, go to the IHSLRP website and click on the Loan Repayment Application handbook.
Back to Top
Defaulting on Your Contract
If you decide to terminate your IHSLRP agreement, please note that there can be significant financial consequences. You will be responsible for more money than the amount you were awarded. A formula is used to determine the amount of damages the US is entitled to recover from you. For a full detailed explanation of the formula, go to IHSLRP website and click on the Loan Repayment Application Handbook.
Back to Top
IHS Loan Repayment Program Online
LRP Home
About LRP
Recipient Responsibilities
Frequently Asked Questions
Back to Top
Contact Us
IHS Loan Repayment Office
(301) 443-3396
Jackie.Santiago@ihs.gov
Contact LRP Office
Back to Top
Dr. Rudd had always aspired to work in public health, originally considering going overseas – an idea that became less viable after he married and started a family. But then Dr. Rudd learned about IHS careers, and he discovered that he could fulfill his desire to help an in-need population while living in the safe and friendly surroundings of a small rural community.
Once he started working with the Indian Tribes in Warm Springs, Dr. Rudd knew that he was in the right place for himself and his family. He was practicing the kind of medicine he wanted to practice, and he could do so without the daily business concerns he would have faced if he had hung out a shingle on his own. But the burden of his educational debt and the lure of making more money in a big city practice still made a strong case for keeping his “temporary adventure” temporary.
Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center is a primary care clinic covering medical, dental, optometry, pharmacy, nursing, laboratory and radiology services. The center is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).
The opportunity to apply for the Loan Repayment Program, however, turned out to be a career- and life-changing one for Dr. Rudd. With the feeling of financial freedom acceptance into the LRP gave him, he was able to settle into the small-town life of Warm Springs and discovered that living away from the big city wasn’t so bad after all – and is, in fact, quite good, he said. Combining that with the sense of purpose he felt from working in public health, Dr. Rudd decided to stay with IHS, and has been at the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center for 14 years.
“Getting loan repayment did have an influence on my decision to stay with IHS,” said Dr. Rudd, who is the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center’s Clinical Director and also serves as Chairman, IHS National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. “Financially, I was in a better position to stay in the rural area without feeling I had to work in an urban setting for the financial benefits. I could integrate into the community and make it my home, and practice the whole spectrum of family medicine. Public health really spoke to me – as part of our routine practice, we do the same things a health department would do for a community. This is what I really enjoy.”
Dr. Rudd was able to make a personal impact on his community in his first few years at Warm Springs by using community health data to influence the Tribal Council to pass an important seat belt law aimed at reducing mortality from accidents. Public health efforts like this, he said, prove the need for IHS physicians to stay in a community.
Said Dr. Rudd: “We serve an important purpose, and if we weren’t here, the population would suffer for that. One less doctor in New York City would go unnoticed, but here they definitely notice. We do good work here and really fulfill a need.”
Continuity of care is something that Dr. Rudd’s patients value highly, he said, noting that it’s well proven that a primary physician forming long-term relationships with patients results in improved outcomes. LRP can give physicians and other health professionals the opportunity to stay in rural settings like Warm Springs and bring continuity of care to a community. Dr. Rudd, for example, has admitting privileges at Mountain View Hospital in the nearby city of Madras, allowing him to stay connected to his patients if hospitalization is required.
“LRP gave me the chance to stay here and be part of the solution to the problem of continuity of care. Without LRP I might not have stayed, because of my loan burden,” Dr. Rudd said. “And I’m aware that the loan burden is really magnified today from when I came out of medical school.” (See payment examples)
“Many new graduates don’t feel like they have an option to look at rural practice because of loan debt. LRP is really critical to make sure we have access to new physicians to work at IHS and meet the needs of the communities we serve.” –Dr. Miles Rudd, M.D.
Daily life provides Dr. Rudd with many reminders of the reasons he chose to stay in Warm Springs. When visiting a local store with his two young children recently and chatting with other store patrons, his daughter commented, “Dad, you know everybody.” She was also amazed when some of her middle school classmates told her that her father had delivered them. These things happen, Dr. Rudd said, in small communities.
“This is a safe place to raise our kids, and we know our neighbors. It’s a community that keeps an eye on your kids, and I think that’s a big advantage. For me, life outside of work focuses on my kids, my friends in the community, our own social network, church and community efforts. When I feel like I want the big city, Portland is two hours away. I can go there, but I can always come home to my quiet little town.”
The financial freedom of LRP has allowed Dr. Rudd and many other IHS health professionals to enjoy professional rewards and personal benefits. What can you do with the financial freedom provided by LRP? |
