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S 780

Renames, extends eligibility, and makes various other changes to Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program.*

2024-2025 Regular Session Introduced by Gordon Johnson and 1 co-sponsor

Expands the Health Care Professional Loan Redemption Program to cover more professions (including psychiatrists), raises the loan cap to 200k, and broadens eligible sites and under

Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
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Bill Summary · S 780

Summary — S.780 (2025): Renames, broadens eligibility, and revises the Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program

Status: Introduced Feb 27, 2025; reported favorably by Senate Higher Education Committee (with amendments) Feb 10, 2025; referred to Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee.

Purpose

S.780 renames New Jersey’s Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program to the Health Care Professional Loan Redemption Program and broadens who and what may participate. The aim is to use loan redemption incentives to address broader workforce shortages across primary care, psychiatry, and other designated health fields and to modernize program criteria and administration.

Key provisions and changes

  • Program name: Renames the program to the “Health Care Professional Loan Redemption Program.”
  • Expanded eligible professions: Explicitly adds psychiatrists and allows the Commissioner of Health (after consultation with Labor & Workforce Development and the Director of Consumer Affairs) to designate additional health professions experiencing critical statewide shortages. Those designated are not limited to professions requiring MD/DO degrees.
  • Increased loan redemption cap: Raises the maximum total loan redemption per participant from $120,000 to $200,000.
  • Broader loan expense definition: Clarifies eligible qualifying loan expenses are not limited to undergraduate institutions of higher education.
  • Service/site rules:
    • Maintains requirement that service be completed at an approved site.
    • Permits program participants to identify an approved site for designation and approval.
    • Establishes criteria by which a site will be automatically deemed an approved site (e.g., located within State-designated medically underserved areas, HPSAs, or specific clinic networks).
    • Sets eligibility requirements for approved sites and prohibits HESAA from adding additional site eligibility requirements beyond those established.
  • State designated medically underserved area: Expands the definition to include municipalities where >50% of households are at or below 185% of the federal poverty level and municipalities with HRSA MUA/P designations reflecting health and economic indicators.
  • Administration & data sharing:
    • Requires HESAA to submit an annual report on the program to the Governor and Legislature by August 1 each year.
    • Requires the Commissioner of Human Services to transmit county-level Medicaid enrollment percentages to HESAA’s executive director by January 1 annually.
    • Changes HESAA role from “matching” applicants to assisting participants in identifying approved sites; revises applicant priority criteria.
  • Fiscal/other changes: Committee amendments removed a proposed appropriation and repealed an existing statutory provision that had directed 25% of program funds to a Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program.

Who is affected

  • Health professionals: primary care clinicians, psychiatrists, and other health occupations designated by the Commissioner of Health.
  • Employers/sites: clinics and facilities in State-designated medically underserved areas, HRSA HPSAs, qualifying clinic networks, and other sites that meet automatic approval criteria.
  • State agencies: Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA), Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and Division of Consumer Affairs (for consultation).

Procedural notes & likely impact

  • The bill expands financial and geographic incentives to recruit and retain a broader range of health professionals in underserved areas, increases per-participant loan relief substantially, and streamlines site approval and data-driven targeting (Medicaid enrollment and HRSA designations).
  • Pending further committee (Budget & Appropriations) review and full Senate/Assembly action before enactment.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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