For more than half a century, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) has made a profound impact by offering loan repayment assistance to incentivize clinicians to serve in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). More than 84,000 clinicians have served in the NHSC since its inception in 1972, and in 2025 alone, nearly 19 million patients received care from over 18,000 Corps clinicians. Yet as the clinician workforce shortage in the United States continues to grow, the need for the Corps has only grown more acute, depend significant funding limitations.
The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU)’s new column, “A Roadmap for the Health Workforce Revisited,” in the February 2026 edition of our official Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved to find our recommendations to help the NHSC realize its full potential and achieve its next half-century of success with sustainable funding and streamlined processes, as well as greater investment in health workforce pathways and vital health extender programs.
Read the article to explore our four key strategic recommendations to strengthen the Corps, including:
- Ensure sustainable, multi-year funding to allow the Corps to fund providers necessary to eliminate all health professional shortage areas.
- Streamline and modernize the program to overcome barriers to retention and recruitment.
- Further invest in Area Health Education Centers, state primary care offices (PCOs), and other initiatives that link students and health professionals in training into health care careers and the Corps and support those already serving.
- Expand funding for vital health extender programs including the Federally Qualified Health Center and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education programs which sustain the organizations in which Corps clinicians practice and learn.
Key NHSC Facts Visualized: Enduring Successes and Funding Limitations
How You Can Support the Corps: Join Our Advocacy Network
ACU continues to tirelessly advocate for the National Health Service Corps, and your voice is critical in these efforts! On Capitol Hill and beyond, we rely on the input and perspectives of our community. If you haven’t yet, become an ACU Advocate to stay up to date on new developments and stay tuned for our calls to action to support the NHSC and uplift the voices of our community.
