Medical Student Financing and the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.

The impact of the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-484) on the supply of physicians for the armed services was assessed. As background to the survey findings, information is presented on conditions of three federal programs and differences in their benefit structures and implications for program participation. These programs are the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (AFHPSP) of the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarships of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Federal Loan Insurance Program. The 1977 survey of a sample of first and second year medical students evaluated their preferences regarding the alternative financing methods, using the conditional logit model to simulate future choices. The demographic variables included race, sex, marital status, and family contribution, and policy variables included the discounted present value of income in each life-cycle period. Attention is directed to implications of the results for current and future anticipated changes in AFHPSP participation, given no program changes, and cost effective program changes to attain a goal of about 1,200 physicians per year. The results suggest that the DOD will fall short of its requirements for medical AFHPSP accessions by about 400 per year after 1978 if there were full NHSC funding for all its qualified applicants. The analysis suggests that increasing service compensation by about $7,500 (1978 dollars) would eliminate the shortfall and will probably be more cost effective than offering a stipend beyond that offered by NHSC. Adjustment strategies for the AFHPSP program benefits are outlined, and a sample questionnaire and description of the survey procedures are appended. (SW)