AcrobatHealth Professions Scholarship Program recipients incur a service obligation of one year for each year of scholarship support received (or the part-time equivalent) with a minimum service period of two years. After graduation, your active duty service obligation is fulfilled, as designated by the Director of IHS, in one of the following areas:
- Indian Health Service (IHS).
- A program conducted under a contract or compact entered into under the Indian Self-Determination Act (P.L. 93-638), as amended.
- Urban Indian organization assisted under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (P.L. 94-437), as amended.
- Private practice in a designated health professional shortage area addressing the health care needs of 51 percent of Indians in that area.
The scholarship recipient may elect to fulfill the service obligation in one of the above areas that is located on the reservation of the Tribe or serves the Tribe in which the recipient is enrolled.
Assignment opportunities are reviewed with students and approved early in the final school year. The Director of IHS reserves the right to make final decisions regarding assignment of scholarship recipients to fulfill their service obligation.
Although the ultimate responsibility for seeking a position is the Health Professions Scholarship recipient’s, the IHS Scholarship Program staff and IHS Discipline Representatives are available to assist with and facilitate placement. Please visit www.careers.ihs.gov for more information.
According to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and the Public Health Service Act, the active duty service obligation must be served in a full-time (40 hours per week) clinical practice. You will have an opportunity to find placement to serve your active duty service obligation, consistent with the statutory mandates listed above. However, if there is a difficulty in placement, you may be assigned to an IHS geographic area where there is an existing need.
Payback/Service Obligation specifics:
- Application/Placement Process
- Monitoring the Placement Process
- Documentation Requirements
- Deferments
Graduating students may apply for employment through the federal Civil Service or the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Whether your application is submitted to the IHS Civil Service or Commissioned Corps, be sure to indicate clearly that you are a scholarship program graduate. This will assure that you receive priority consideration for jobs for which you qualify.
Final transcripts must be sent to the IHS Scholarship Program before your service payback can be counted.
Civil Service:
If you opt for the Civil Service system within IHS, you must submit the following forms and all other additional required forms (e.g., transcripts) to the vacancy announcement’s IHS Area Personnel Office by the deadline specified on that announcement. Be sure to include:
- Optional Application for Federal Employment (PDF - 132KB) or a resume.
- Verification of Indian Preference for Employment (PDF - 145KB).
Commissioned Corps of the USPHS:
You may wish to apply for service through the Commissioned Corps if your health profession is any of the following: medical, dental, nursing (BSN, MSN), pharmacy, engineering, physical therapy, dietetics, sanitarian, or master’s-level health professional training. To receive information and an application, contact:
Office of Commissioned Corps Operations
Division of Commissioned Corps Assignments
1101 Wootton Parkway, Plaza Level, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: (240) 453-6125
1 (800) 279-1605
Fax: (240) 453-6030
www.usphs.gov
Once the Division of Commissioned Corps Assignments verifies your application is complete, you must submit required forms to the IHS Area Personnel Office by the deadline date as indicated in the vacancy announcement.
For information regarding benefits relating to salary, travel pay, health benefits, housing, etc., you must contact the IHS Area Personnel Office to which you are applying.
Monitoring the Placement Process
All graduating students must apply for current employment vacancies. The IHS Discipline Representatives and Area Scholarship Coordinators will offer professional advice and assist you with job vacancies in your field.
The monitoring of the graduating student’s progress towards placement involves the following:
- At least one month before graduation, you must contact the IHS Scholarship Program via a Notice of Impending Graduation (PDF - 13KB).
- At least three months before you graduate, the IHS Scholarship Program Headquarters reminds you of your placement responsibilities and to send completed forms to your Area Scholarship Coordinator with a copy to your Discipline Representative and IHS Scholarship Program.
Forms to be completed are:
Optional Application for Federal Employment (PDF - 132KB);
Health Profession Scholarship Program Service Preferred Assignment (PDF - 16KB);
and, if applicable, a Verification of Indian Preference for Employment (PDF - 145KB) form.
Note: Priority will be given to IHS Scholarship Program recipients. As such, please indicate on your documents that you are to receive such priority. - The graduating student should send a copy of all documents to each Area Scholarship Coordinator in the Areas where they are interested in working.
- Follow-up with each respective Area Scholarship Coordinator and Discipline Representatives should be done each month by the graduating student regarding vacancies available and application status.
- A Placement Update (PDF - 22KB) must be sent to the IHS Scholarship Program within 60 days of graduation and every 60 days thereafter. The graduate must attach documentation regarding attempts at securing employment (i.e., letter of application receipt, denial letters). This form may also be used to express any type of dissatisfaction, or problems encountered while seeking a position.
- Once a position is secured, you must submit information regarding verification of employment within 90 days of your graduation date.
The Director of IHS reserves the right to make final decisions regarding assignment of scholarship recipients to fulfill their service obligation according to the needs and priorities of IHS and Tribes.
Prioritization of sites will vary from year to year and among the different health profession disciplines. You may contact your Discipline Chief for information regarding placement. Although IHS will attempt to place you in the geographic location of your choice, this may not be possible and you may be required to take a position in another location.
Documentation Requirements
Before an Scholarship recipient receives credit toward their service obligation, the IHS Scholarship Branch requires the following documentation:
A copy of your diploma and official final transcript stating degree conferred, and any of the following items that are applicable in your case:
- A copy of your license/certificate (for those disciplines that need one to work).
- If federal employment,
– a copy of your Civil Service Personnel Action Form (SF-50) from your personnel office reflecting your entrance on duty date and any copies of SF-50, if you should transfer during your payback status, or
– a copy of your Commissioned Corps Personnel Orders calling you to duty and copies of personnel order transfer papers if you should transfer during your payback status. - If Tribal employment, a contract, work agreement or letter from the Tribe indicating start date of employment.
- If a private practice option, a contract, work agreement or letter from the facility indicating start date of employment.
Deadline: The appropriate documentation is required 90 days from the date of graduation.
If the IHS Scholarship Branch does not receive the information required, we will assume that you did not graduate and are not paying back your service obligation. Failure to submit the information may result in the initiation of debt collection action.
Additionally, you must submit an Annual Status Report (PDF - 26KB). This is required to monitor your payback obligation activity, so that credit can be given to your obligation.
If you have any questions regarding these directions, contact the IHS Scholarship Program.
Deferments
Post-Graduate Training
Health Professions Scholarship recipients can defer their service obligations for further training. Detailed information on this procedure is given in the spring of your senior year and is outlined below. As an IHS scholarship obligated graduate, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself and comply with the information bulletin and instruction you will receive. Failure to do so may result in non-approval of your deferment request.
Deferment of the service obligation is intended to permit scholarship recipients to complete approved graduate clinical training programs, i.e., those programs of graduate clinical training which fulfill the requirements for board certification and have been approved by the appropriate certifying boards, as determined by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services. Training which fulfills the requirements for board certification is considered by the IHS Scholarship Branch to be the graduate clinical training and years of practice required by the appropriate American specialty board for the candidate to be board certified.
To be eligible to serve with IHS as an allopathic or osteopathic physician, graduates must complete at least one year in an approved graduate clinical training program. Completion of post-graduate training is a critical factor in identification of the practice in which the scholarship obligation is to be fulfilled. Scholarship recipients who elect to serve after only one year of graduate clinical training will compete with board eligible practitioners for a limited number of vacancies and may experience difficulty in identifying assignments in which to serve. Therefore, in order to become fully qualified practitioners, graduates are encouraged to complete training in an approved specialty.
- To be eligible to serve with IHS as a licensed social worker, and before they can sit for licensure boards, graduates must complete two years of clinical experience under a licensed practitioner. This requirement may vary based upon geographic location.
- To be eligible to serve with IHS as a licensed clinical psychologist, and before they can sit for licensure boards, graduates must complete two years of clinical experience under a licensed practitioner. This requirement may vary based upon geographic location.
- To serve with IHS as a registered pharmacist, graduates may elect to complete one additional year of residency in pharmacy.
Note: No period of internship, residency or other advanced clinical training shall be counted as satisfying any period of obligated service that is required under Section 104 (b)(3)(A) of the IHCIA, P.L. 94-437, as amended.
Specialties and Approval
All medical school graduates will receive a letter from the Chief of the Health Professions Support Branch indicating which specialties you may enter for your post-graduate training residency. The specialties are determined according to IHS needs.
Specialties: The following is a list of specialties that are currently in demand throughout IHS:
- Family Medicine
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Emergency Medicine
- Psychiatry
Prior Approval: Initial approval of your post-graduate training plan is contingent upon full compliance with all policies and procedures applicable to the deferment of all graduates, and your request to enter a specialty needed by IHS. The IHS Scholarship Branch requires that you submit a request for residency training before beginning a residency by submitting a Request for Prior Approval of Deferment (PDF - 11KB).
If you do not submit this request, your residency or clinical training will not be approved and you may be placed in default.
You cannot transfer to another residency without prior approval from IHS Scholarship Branch. Those who are unsuccessful in obtaining an internship or residency must notify IHS immediately and will be expected to begin obligated service upon completion of their first year of training. They will be assigned according to the needs of IHS if notification is received after September 1.
IHS physicians have found that they are significantly less competitive in locating sites in target IHS Areas if they are not board eligible/certified.
IHS Areas are preferentially seeking fully trained and qualified individuals who have a higher probability of remaining after completion of their service obligation, rather than leaving to pursue further graduate training.
Approved Deferments: Approval of deferment of the service obligation for all graduates will be based on the return of the Request for Prior Approval of Deferment (PDF - 11KB) form. New graduates, as well as those granted deferment who intend to continue in deferment status during the cycle, must submit these forms.
The Deferment Request must be submitted annually until you have completed your residency. If you fail to return the form, you will be placed in default.
All IHS Scholarship recipients who wish to defer their service obligation for the period from July 1 through June 30 must complete, sign and return the Request for Prior Approval of Deferment (PDF - 11KB) by May 31. The deferment request packet will be mailed to you during the third year of your health profession program.
After Deferment Approval: Your deferment will continue if you comply with these conditions:
- Pursue only the training as described in an accredited program approved by the IHS Scholarship Program, and for a deferment that does not incur a conflicting service obligation.
- Submit documentation of your training status in an approved program each year of deferment.
- Make no changes in the period, place of training or type of training without prior approval from the IHS Service Branch.
- Notify the IHS Scholarship Branch in writing within 30 days of any change of address, intent to terminate training, intent to take a break in training, or similar change.
- Notify the IHS Scholarship Branch in writing if you did not pass PGY I level of training and did not advance to the PGY II level. Your program director should also send a letter to the IHS Scholarship Branch.
- Return the deferment request by the deadline date of May 31.
- Physicians who elect to begin their obligated service before completing their second, third or fourth year of training in an approved specialty must notify the IHS Scholarship Branch upon making the decision.
If you do not comply with all the above, you will be in default of your scholarship contract. The IHS Service Branch has adopted the above procedures because of problems with deferments during the previous years.
Please Note: All deferment deadline dates and policies will be strictly enforced.
If you need additional information regarding deferment of your service obligation or if you need assistance with your training plans as they relate to your scholarship, please write to the IHS Scholarship Program.