Open. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Bureau of Healthcare Access is accepting applications for the Idaho State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) SFY27. The program is designed to improve access to healthcare in rural and underserved Idaho communities through clinician loan repayment tied to a two-year full-time service obligation.
Funding and deadline
Deadline: October 13, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Both the clinician portion and employer/healthcare-site portion must be submitted electronically by the deadline. Late applications are not accepted.
Maximum loan repayment: up to $75,000 for primary care clinicians and up to $50,000 for oral and behavioral health clinicians. The healthcare site must provide 50% of the total loan-repayment award, creating the required 1:1 federal/site match.
Eligible clinicians and sites
Eligible disciplines include physicians, osteopathic physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, certified nurse midwives, dentists, dental therapists, registered dental hygienists, pharmacists, registered dietitians, health service psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurse specialists, and qualifying alcohol/substance-use disorder counselors. Clinicians generally must work full time, defined as 40 hours per week for at least 45 weeks per year.
Qualifying healthcare sites must be governmental, nonprofit, or for-profit entities operated by a nonprofit organization; be located in a Health Professional Shortage Area; accept Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP; and meet the program’s sliding-fee requirements. The guidance identifies hospitals, health systems, medical centers, clinics, and other medical organizations in HPSAs as eligible healthcare-site types when all requirements are met.
Required application structure
This is a clinician-plus-employer application rather than a conventional vendor or equipment grant. Both application portions are required. Supporting materials include the clinician’s CV or resume, eligible educational-loan statements, an I-9 submitted by the healthcare site, and the site’s sliding fee scale policy. The clinician and healthcare site each provide narrative information addressing service commitment, recruitment/retention, and community impact.
Award offers are anticipated by October 30, 2026. Selected participants enter a subgrant agreement. Matching payments are verified during program administration, and loan-repayment funds must be applied to qualifying educational debt.
Atlas assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 94/100. This is a highly relevant Idaho rural-health workforce opportunity with clearly verified funding, eligibility, matching, application, and deadline terms. Applicant targeting should focus on a named eligible clinician paired with a qualifying Idaho HPSA healthcare site.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. The program pays qualifying educational debt and does not fund connected examination equipment, software, telehealth platforms, implementation, or other vendor products. Nonagon N9+ should not be positioned under this opportunity.
Next action
Identify qualifying Idaho HPSA employer sites with eligible clinicians who can satisfy the two-year full-time service requirement, then verify clinician-specific discipline, educational debt, site match capacity, sliding-fee compliance, and complete paired application readiness before advancing an applicant.