The California Medical Association (CMA) won a significant NEW expansion in the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program that extends eligibility to California physicians who were previously barred from participating. 

If you still have student loans and provided services in a nonprofit hospital, clinic/office owned by a 1206(l) foundation or other nonprofit entity for an average of 30 hours per week, you may now qualify. Even if you work for a for-profit sole proprietorship, have a contract with a for-profit partnership or are employed by a for-profit medical group, you may still qualify if the services you provided were in a facility owned by a nonprofit.

To have past time worked counted toward the program requirements, physicians must have a direct government loan or consolidate their loans into a direct loan by December 31, 2023.

CMA has published a guide – “Public Service Loan Forgiveness: What California Physicians Need to Know” – to help physicians determine whether they may qualify for hours worked back to 2007 or for future years of service.

The CMA guide also has specific information for “qualifying employers,” as well as a template physician attestation form intended to provide reliable written information regarding the dates and hours a physician provided services in a nonprofit facility to enable authorized officials from, “PSLF qualifying employers” to confidently complete and sign the application form. 

CMA also recently hosted a free webinar on the PSLF rules. The one-hour webinar is available for on-demand viewing and is available free to all interested parties.