Health care providers who offer opioid treatment programs may be eligible for student loan repayment incentives.
The state is launching a two-year loan repayment plan for creating new or expanding existing addiction treatment programs.
Bob Wheaton is with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. He said opioid related deaths continue to rise and the state is trying to incentivize more ways of treating people.
“It more than tripled since 2011 when there were 620 such deaths to 2,053,” he said. The state’s most recent numbers are from 2017.
Wheaton said the goal of the program is to increase the number opioid addiction treatment across the state.
“So we want to do whatever we can to incentivize doctors to be there and be providing those types of services so people who are addicted to opioids can get the help that they need.”
The program is open to osteopathic doctors and nurse practitioners among others.
Health care providers can be located anywhere in the state but the sites most likely to see loan repayment are in the 21 counties most impacted by the opioid crisis.
That includes Alpena, Oscoda, Genesee, and Marquette counties, among others.
You can find out more about the program here.