Install
SPARC Act
A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes.
- Introduced
- Committee
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- To President
- Became law
Summary
Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care Act or the SPARC Act
This bill establishes student loan repayment programs to support the provision of specialty medical care in rural areas.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) must carry out such a program for specialty medicine physicians (i.e., practicing in an area other than primary care) who provide care in rural communities with shortages of such physicians. Physicians must agree to a period of obligated service and, for each year of such service, HRSA must pay one-sixth of the principal payment and interest on eligible loans up to a maximum cap of $250,000. Additionally, HRSA may carry out a similar loan repayment program for nonphysician specialty health care providers.
Summary by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Actions
- Mar 19, 2026 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.
- Apr 9, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Apr 9, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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