Republican lawmakers want to establish a grant program to encourage new pharmacists to practice in rural Wisconsin.
Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, and Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, are circulating a bill for co-sponsorship that would create this program under the state’s Higher Educational Aids Board. The bill would also exempt from taxation funds received through the program.
In their co-sponsorship memo, the legislators noted the state’s rural and underserved areas were facing a shortage of health care providers even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They say the proposed rural pharmacy practice grant program would help address this issue.
As with most other health care professions, statewide vacancy rates for pharmacists in Wisconsin rose several percentage points in 2021 relative to the prior three years, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s latest workforce report.
“Our goal is to specifically address, with this legislation, the rural pharmacy area,” Stafsholt and Dallman wrote in the memo. “One potential solution to address the shared goal of improved access and improved community outcomes would be to incentivize graduates from Wisconsin’s schools of Pharmacy to serve in rural/underserved communities upon graduation.”
Under the pilot program they’re proposing, graduates that commit to practice in rural or underserved communities for three years would have the cost of their higher education offset with state funding. The support would be limited to those working in “medically underserved areas” as defined by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the memo shows.
The Higher Educational Aids Board could provide up to $30,000 per recipient in annual financial assistance for up to three years, with a cap of 10 pharmacists getting support per year, according to analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau.
Students enrolled in pharmacy schools would be able to apply before becoming licensed, but the financial help would only be provided after a year of pharmacy practice in an underserved area.
The co-sponsorship deadline for the bill is this Friday at noon.
See more details: https://www.wisconsinlobbyists.com/resources/Co-Sponsorship%20Memos/4.14.2023/LRB-2820%20creating%20a%20rural%20pharmacy%20practice%20grant%20program%20Memo.pdf
See a recent story on the state’s health care workforce challenges: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/legislative-briefing-highlights-health-care-workforce-concerns/
See WHA’s report: https://www.wha.org/MediaRoom/DataandPublications/WHAReports/Workforce/2023
–By Alex Moe
