Body of Announcement
SHARP-I: New Opportunity for Healthcare Practitioner Loan Repayment for State Fiscal Year 2017
Special Solicitation for Behavioral Health Clinicians
Alaska’s SHARP Program Announces Application Availability Beginning July 15th, 2016
Overview:
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announces a SHARP-I loan repayment opportunity for selected healthcare practitioners in State Fiscal Year 2017. SHARP-I is operated by DHSS, in accordance with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant # H56CR25037. A key goal of Alaska’s SHARP program is to help recruit and retain healthcare practitioners to serve in DHSS-designated healthcare service shortage areas in exchange for the repayment of qualifying education loans. Selection of SHARP candidates is based on funding availability and DHSS’ assessment of prioritized community, facility and population needs. This opportunity also depends on the kind of facility and type of practice.
SHARP is designed to help ensure that residents throughout the state, including recipients of medical assistance and/or Medicare, and the uninsured, experience improved access to healthcare services. SHARP is intended to help address the worsening shortage of certain healthcare professionals in the state by increasing the number and improving the distribution of healthcare professionals who provide direct patient care.
This SHARP-I solicitation is for those behavioral healthcare generalist practitioners who provide direct patient care typically in outpatient clinics. These clinicians must work in settings designated as, or located within, federally defined “Health Profession Shortage Areas” (HPSAs). For readers interested in learning whether a given locale has a HPSA designation, see https://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/tools/analyzers/hpsafind.aspx
Practitioners who are selected sign a two-year SHARP service contract, which states their commitment to serve in identified high-need areas and facilities. Both full-time and half-time contract options are available. SHARP expects that approximately 14 practitioners will be awarded contracts from this solicitation.
Eligible Practitioners:
Each eligible behavioral health practitioner must be licensed to practice his or her occupation. All licenses must be issued by the State of Alaska, the sole exception being that if the clinician is to practice in a tribal health facility then the license can be from any state. Each license must be full, unencumbered and current at the time contractual service-credit begins. SHARP groups its eligible behavioral health occupations into two tiers:
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Tier-1 includes: Psychiatrist (M.D. or D.O.)
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Tier-2 includes: Clinical or Counseling Psychologist (Ph.D. or Psy.D.); Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW); Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC); Marriage and Family Therapist; Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioners with psychiatric specialization; and Registered Nurses who work in behavioral healthcare settings.
Terms of Award:
All contract terms are specified in the required memorandum of agreement (MO, aka service contract). In brief, some highlights include that loan repayment support is paid in amounts up to a maximum annual benefit for each participating practitioner. This amount is dependent upon whether the occupation is categorized as Tier-1 or Tier-2, whether the position is full-time or half-time, and the clinician’s level of eligible education debt. For this award-cycle, the Maximum Annual Benefit amounts are: Tier-1: $35,000 and Tier-2: $20,000. This loan repayment is exempt from federal personal income tax according to federal regulation governing state loan repayment programs. This support-for-service award is strictly in addition to, and is not a supplanting of, the clinician’s regular employer-provided wage and benefit. Participants cannot have other concurrent service obligations, almost without exception.
In this solicitation, a variety of healthcare delivery locations are anticipated to be eligible, including selected private non-profit and government healthcare sites. Examples include, but are not limited to, community health centers, critical access hospitals, community behavioral health clinics, tribal health entities, drug treatment facilities, long-term care facilities and others.
Employer Match:
This iteration of SHARP-I funding requires a partial employer matching-payment, payable upon quarterly invoice. A partial waiver of this match requirement is possible in those unusual circumstances wherein the applicant-agency demonstrates an inability to pay. For this solicitation, there are two alternative levels of required partial employer match contribution. These two alternatives are aligned with (a) the participating occupation tier, and (b) the related site recruitment prerogative. Below are presented the proportion of funding by source, and related to this the level-of-prerogative that the employer will have in using the certainty of this loan repayment in its recruitment offer.
Tier-1 (re: psychiatrists):
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Funding proportions: 25% program, and 75% employer-match
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Recruitment prerogative: This option allows the employer the prerogative to offer-with-certainty this loan repayment benefit to specified candidates who are otherwise program-eligible. Upon signed agreement with DHSS, the employer will have the guaranteed option to offer its candidate the specified loan repayment benefit. This guarantee will be available to the employer for three months following signed agreement, and thus can be used as part of the employer’s “recruitment package” even if the clinician-recruit is unknown at the time of initial agreement execution. This clinician recruitment period must conclude no later than 12/31/16 otherwise this option lapses for the participating employer. This alternative is designed to help employers increase the impact of their recruitment efforts. This opportunity is considered competitive, and as such the selection of any and all employers occurs through the SHARP Council’s regular review and recommendation process.
Tier-2 (re: all other above-listed occupations):
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Funding proportions: 75% program, and 25% employer-match
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Recruitment prerogative: This option is SHARP’s traditional opportunity, in which the identified clinician and employer applicants are reviewed by Council. This opportunity is considered competitive, and as such the selection of any and all clinicians occurs through the SHARP Council’s regular review and recommendation process.
Application Process:
Application guidelines, forms and contract-example will be available on SHARP’s website beginning 7/15/16 at 1:00 pm (AT). Both individual healthcare practitioners and individual healthcare delivery sites (agencies) must apply. The SHARP program’s website address is: http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/HealthPlanning/Pages/sharp/default.aspx . Both practitioners and sites are welcome to apply individually. For any practitioner to be finally selected, the practitioner must have had a corresponding site application submitted by his/her prospective or current eligible employer. If there are individual practitioners and site applicants in need of corresponding partners then SHARP may be able to provide respective contact information.
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Site Application
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All Site Applicants for this SHARP-I solicitation must submit a new site application.
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SHARP-I site application forms will be found on the SHARP website.
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All Site Applicants must sign and endorse the provided Attestation Page, found on SHARP website.
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SHARP website address is: http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/HealthPlanning/Pages/sharp/default.aspx . Site applications (from applicant-agencies) are accepted on an ongoing basis. However, to be considered for this solicitation, all SHARP-I site applications are due no later than 9/8/16 at 5:00 pm (AT). All site application forms and any supporting documents must be submitted by emailed attachments. In the unusual case that another route of site application-submission is needed, then please contact Robert Sewell (phone 907-465-4065) for arrangement.
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Practitioner Application
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Practitioner Application will be found at: http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/HealthPlanning/Pages/sharp/default.aspx .
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If several clinician applications are received regarding work at given site, then that employer may be asked to rank-order its clinician applicants for potential further consideration by Council.
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All practitioner applications must be submitted in the web-provided clickable PDF format, via emailed attachment to: robert.sewell@alaska.gov . In the unusual case that another route of practitioner application-submission is needed, then please contact Robert Sewell (phone 907-465-4065) for arrangement.
Expected Timeline:
This SHARP-I solicitation is time-limited with practitioner applications being accepted only from 7/15/16 to 9/8/16 at 5:00 pm (AT). The SHARP Advisory Council will meet during 9/15/16 to make SHARP-I award decisions. Decision results will be announced no later than 9/22/16. All applicants will be notified in writing as to outcome. It is anticipated that those practitioners who are admitted may begin service contracts as early as 10/1/16. For those employers who are recruiting psychiatrists via the Tier-1 process detailed above, that recruitment must conclude no later than 12/31/16 at 5:00 pm (AT). DHSS reserves the right to not accept any or all applications received, and further, it retains the option to solicit again for more candidates.
Application period: 7/15/16 – 9/8/16; Council review: 9/15/16; Applicant notification: 9/22/16; Start-Dates: 10/1/16
Technical Assistance:
Six statewide optional live technical assistance teleconferences are scheduled for interested parties to learn more about this SHARP-I opportunity, and to receive technical assistance. Content repeats on the below-listed dates. For all these the call-in number is the same: (800) 944-8766, then pass-code: 18105.
All interested parties are asked to use the scheduled teleconferences listed above to answer their questions. If this is not possible for you, then Robert Sewell, SHARP Program Director, is available for questions via e-mail (preferred) at robert.sewell@alaska.gov or phone 907-465-4065.
If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation to participate in this process, please contact Robert Sewell no later than five days before the accommodation is needed, to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.
Funding Sources:
These SHARP-I service awards are resourced by a blend of funds from: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant # H56CR25037; Alaska Division of Behavioral Health, Department of Health and Social Services; the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority; and the specified partial Employer Match.
For Information:
For more information about Alaska’s SHARP program, please review the SHARP website on or after 7/15/16 at the following web address: http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/HealthPlanning/Pages/sharp/default.aspx .