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Rural Essential Access Provider (REAP) Loan Repayment Program

 
Before you begin a loan repayment application, you must be employed at a REAP approved site by the first day of the application cycle.
If your workplace is not on the approved sites list, request your site administrator or owner submit a site application.
Site application
Site applications are accepted year-round.
Eligibility for sites
  • Private practice, offering full scope outpatient primary care services, providing care to patients for at least two years prior to application.
  • Practice must be located in a rural or frontier county. See County Designations.
  • Practice must be located in a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area.
  • Accepting current and new Medicaid, Medicare, CHP+ and offering a slide fee scale based on family size and annual income for those at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
  • Practice level proportion of Medicaid and SFS must together exceed 10 percent of patients served in the previous 12 months to be eligible for consideration.
  • Hours of operation must be conducive to patient and community access to clinic care services.
Required documentation to be submitted with site application
  • Current sliding fee scale policy that details how a sliding fee scale will be uniformly applied to all patients who meet family size and income requirements. It must be updated every year according to current Federal Poverty Guidelines.
  • Sliding fee scale patient application.
  • Non-discrimination statement.
  • Photo of signage posted in the clinic indicating the clinic:
    • Serves all patients regardless of ability to pay.
    • Offers discounted fees for patients.
    • Does not deny services based on a person's race, color, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation or national origin.
    • Accepts insurance, including Medicaid, Medicare, Children's Health Insurance program and other programs accessible in Colorado, such as the Colorado Indigent Care Program.
Apply for REAP loan repayment. The application is open from September 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023.
Direct clinical care
  • A medically necessary medical, dental, mental or behavioral health visit or a qualified preventive health visit is direct clinical care. The visit must be a face-to-face/one-on-one encounter between the patient and clinician during which time one or more services are rendered.
  • Care rendered via telemedicine is not currently eligible to achieve the hours of direct care minimums.
Eligible health professions
  • Doctors of osteopathic or allopathic medicine (family medicine, geriatrics, general internal medicine, general psychiatry, general child psychiatry, general pediatrics, and general obstetrics and gynecology).
  • Clinical pharmacists (PharmD).
  • Licensed clinical or counseling psychologists (Ph.D., Psy.D.).
  • Licensed clinical social workers (master’s or doctoral degree in social work).
  • Licensed professional counselors (master’s or doctoral degree with a major study in counseling).
  • Licensed marriage and family therapists (master’s or doctoral degree with a major study in marriage and family therapy).
  • Certified nurse-midwives.
  • Nurse practitioners.
  • Physician assistants.
  • Psychiatric nurse specialist
If you are a DDS, DMD or RDH, you may be eligible for the state dental loan repayment program.
Award amounts
Full-time obligation:
$30,000 for physicians.
$15,000 for physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, clinical pharmacists and licensed mental health providers.
 
Part-time obligation:
$15,000 for physicians.
$7,500 for physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, clinical pharmacists and licensed mental health providers.
Service obligation
You must be a Colorado resident and agree to:
  • Work for a term of two years at the approved site.
  • Work part time or full time.
  • Meet the hourly requirements for direct clinical contact during the entire service obligation.
Additional eligibility details​
Qualifying loans, licensure, employment status, competing service obligations.
 
Contact Kathy Jacobsen at kathy.jacobsen@state.co.us.