AES Signs Onto Letter Requesting Funding for the Pediatric Specialty Loan Program (2024)

On behalf of organizations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and adolescents, we write to thank you for your continued support of the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program (PSLRP, Public Health Service Act Sec. 775) and request $30 million in funding for PSLRP in the Senate Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. With this investment, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will be able to ensure more communities have access to specialized pediatric care by expanding the number of loan repayment awards it is able to make.

Serious shortages of pediatric medical subspecialists, pediatric surgical specialists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and other pediatric mental health professionals are impeding children’s access to needed care. Ideally, children requiring specialized care should be able to see a provider within a reasonable amount of time and as close to their homes as possible. However, growing pediatric subspecialty shortages are leading to more children waiting longer for an appointment and traveling longer distances to receive care.

For example, severe shortages of pediatric geneticists and developmental-behavioral pediatricians can result in families waiting up to 5 months for an appointment, while children in need of a pediatric neurologist may have to wait for 3 months before they can see a provider. One quarter of children in the United States live greater than a 55-mile drive away from a pediatric rheumatologist, which can cause additional stress and burden due to disrupted family schedules and lost time at school, when a child with juvenile arthritis needs care. Delaying care can result in delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment and intervention, and potentially harmful consequences.

The Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program helps to ameliorate these shortages by addressing the financial barriers to training and practicing in a pediatric subspecialty. The additional time and expense required to become a pediatric subspecialist can make pediatric subspecialty training and practice financially infeasible. Pursuing subspecialty training requires forgoing a salary for two to four additional years while receiving specialized training, often accruing interest on outstanding educational debt. Further, pediatric subspecialists may earn less than general

Now is a crucial time to increase investments in the pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, and child mental health workforce. In October 2023, HRSA made the first-ever PSLRP awards thanks to Congress’s bipartisan investment in this critical program. However, the number of eligible pediatric subspecialists far outstripped available funding, highlighting the significant unmet demand for loan repayment. With $30 million in FY 2025, HRSA would be able to double the number of awards it is able to provide, ensuring more communities have access to pediatric subspecialty and child mental health care by incentivizing highly trained health care professionals to provide care to children from underserved areas.

Without additional federal investments in the pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, and child mental health workforce, children will continue to face long wait times for subspecialty care, need to travel long distances to receive that care, or go without care altogether. As you deliberate the FY 2025 appropriations package, we strongly urge you to include $30 million in funding for PSLRP. Thank you for your consideration of this issue and for your longstanding commitment to investing in child mental and physical health. If you have any questions, please contact James Baumberger at jbaumberger@aap.org.

Sincerely,