Student Center

Oklahoma PA Programs

The State of Oklahoma is proud to have five active PA programs and one in development.

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Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants

CASPA is a full-service, web-based application system providing students with the ability to apply to multiple participating PA programs with a single application and facilitating a streamlined admissions process for programs.

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National Health Service Corps

The NHSC helps bring health care to those who need it most. Since 1972, we have been building healthy communities by connecting primary health care providers to areas of the United States with limited access to care.

More than 80,000 primary care medical, dental, and mental and behavioral health professionals have served in the National Health Service Corps since its inception.

Today, there are nearly 17,000 NHSC members providing culturally competent care to more than 18 million people. We provide this care at more than 15,000 NHSC-approved health care sites in urban, rural, and frontier areas. In addition to Corps providers currently providing care, nearly 1,000 students, residents, and health providers receive scholarships or participate in the Student to Service Loan Repayment program to prepare to practice.

The NHSC is a Federal government program that is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Specifically, the Corps is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service (BCRS).

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Health Care Workforce Training Commission

MISSION

The mission of the Oklahoma Health Care Workforce Training Commission is to increase access to health care workers in the rural and underserved areas of Oklahoma.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

HWTC, as developed under the provisions of the Oklahoma State Statutes, became fully functional as of November 1, 1975. HWTC was originally charged by the legislature to administer three programs:

• The Oklahoma Rural Medical Education Scholarship Loan Program (sunset program December 2016)
• The Oklahoma Community Physician Education Scholarship Loan Program (which is no longer in existence) and
• The Oklahoma Intern-Resident Cost-Sharing Program

Through the Oklahoma Intern-Resident cost-sharing program, HWTC provides a portion of the salaries of primary care interns and residents so additional internship and residency positions may be developed by the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine-Tulsa and the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Subsequently the Oklahoma Legislature has added the responsibility of a Physician Placement Program, Nursing Student Assistance Program, the FP Resident Rural Program, the Physician Community Match Program and the Physician Assistant Scholarship Program, and Physician and Physician Assistant Loan Repayment.

The Commission is guided in all the programs by a sense of stewardship which requires that maximum effort, both individual and organizational, be utilized to increase the number of practicing physicians, nurses/nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in Oklahoma and, particularly, in rural and underserved areas of the state.

GOALS

HWTC has developed, in accord with legislative intent, five high priority goals:

1. Work to improve the balance of physician manpower distribution in the State of Oklahoma, both by type of practice and by geographic location;
2. Aid accredited physician training facilities in the establishment of additional primary medical care and family practice internship and residency training program positions by sharing in the cost of these programs;
3. Assist Oklahoma communities in selecting and financing qualified medical and osteopathic interns/residents, and physicians to participate in the Physician Loan Repayment and Physician Community Match Programs;
4. Assist Oklahoma communities, in any manner possible, in contacting medical and osteopathic students, interns and residents, or other physicians (inside and outside Oklahoma) who might wish to practice in Oklahoma;
5. Work with Oklahoma communities and the leadership of Oklahoma’s nurse training institutions to provide nurses for underserved areas of the state and expand the training capacity of the programs.