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Zach Conine
Treasurer | Nevada

Health Equity and Loan Assistance (HEAL) Program

Idea Category: 2025 Ideas Challenge, Improving Quality of Life

2025 Ideas Challenge Entry

Nevada faces one of the nation’s most severe health care provider shortages. The state ranks 45th for active physicians per capita, 48th for primary care physicians, and 49th for general surgeons. To meet national population-to-provider standards for 2025, Nevada would need an estimated:

2,097 additional physicians
717 advanced practice registered nurses
347 dentists
5,372 nursing assistants
21,795 personal care and home health aides

Nearly two-thirds of the state’s population (65%) live in federally designated primary medical care shortage areas.

The Nevada Health Equity and Loan Assistance (HEAL) Program, administered by the State Treasurer’s Office, addresses this shortage by offering up to $120,000 in student loan repayment for health care providers working in underserved communities. In 2025, the program’s first year, over 700 applications were received, and 67 recipients will be awarded.

Impact or how it will be measured:

Evaluating the program’s effectiveness may be complicated due to recent severe cuts to Medicaid funding. Changes in access to primary preventive care and provider retention could mask improvements in outcome-based and per-capita provider metrics. However, without the HEAL Program, projected shortages and negative health outcomes would likely be far more severe, making the program’s intervention critical.