Service obligation

Be firmly committed to practicing primary health care when you accept PCL funds. If you fail your service obligation, you will lose the grace period; repayment begins immediately; and your interest rate will double or triple. To avoid these penalties and retain the terms of your PCL loan, you must fulfill each of the following service requirements:

1. Enter a residency training program in family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, preventative medicine, or osteopathic general practice.
2. Complete your residency program within four years of graduation.
3. Practice in primary health care until the loan is paid in full.

Acceptable primary health care service

• Adolescent medicine
  
• Adolescent pediatrics
  
• Clinical preventive medicine
  
• Faculty administrators/policy maker certified in a primary health care discipline
  
• Geriatrics
  
• Occupational medicine
  
• Public health
  
• Public policy fellowship
  
• Senior residencies in one of the above
  
• Sports medicine

Non-acceptable service

• Cardiology
  
• Dermatology
  
• Emergency medicine
  
• Gastroenterology
  
• Obstetrics/gynecology
  
• Psychiatry
  
• Radiology
  
• Rehabilitation medicine
  
• Surgery

Service exceptions

Your primary health care service obligation may be:

• waived if you terminate your studies before graduating and do not later resume studies.
  
• suspended for the period you are not enrolled because you have terminated studies before graduating; your service obligation resumes when you return to Medical School to complete your studies.

Even though you may be eligible for one of the above exceptions, your loan repayment obligation remains. If you are not firmly committed to the practice of primary health care, you should not accept a PCL.

Additional certification

You may obtain additional certification in primary health care while fulfilling your service obligation, as long as you complete your primary health care residency program within four years after graduation. For example, if your primary care residency is completed within three years after graduation, you may obtain certification in an area of training to enhance your primary health care practice (e.g., geriatrics) at anytime, and it will be considered an acceptable activity for fulfillment of your service obligation. However, you may not do additional training or obtain certification in any non-primary health care sub-specialty.