Guest entry: Advocating for a loan repayment bill that could impact occupational therapy

A number of my students at Keuka College have been working on policy and advocacy projects that I wanted to share.  The students researched a topic of their interest, met with their legislators, and developed a broad action plan to increase awareness of their topics.  This information is provided courtesy of Nagella AL-Balushi, a graduate student who is interested in promoting a bill that improves health professional workforce distribution via a loan repayment program when practitioners work in underserved areas." Greetings fellow OT students and future colleagues,I am a graduate OT student seeking opinions, feedback and thoughts about a legislative bill that would potentially have a great impact on the field of OT if passed ​!This act would have three main professional consequences including establishing a new ​​​ ​federal loan repayment system​​​, ​increasing the overall distribution of our ​health care services, and ultimately making the role of OT more commonly understood across the nation.The Access to Frontline Health Care Act is designed to provide a federal loan repayment system for health care professionals (including Occupational Therapy) in exchange for two years of service at a federally regulated agency, such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and schools located in underserved areas.The Access to Frontline Health Care Act was drafted in 2015 by Congressman David Loebsack of Iowa and ​thanks to his time and effort in creati...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT practice policy Source Type: blogs