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Grants of $500,000 go to N.Y. doctors

ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Healthcare providers awarded grants of as much as $500,000 to support physicians who practice medicine in underserved areas of New York state, officials say.

Dr. Nirav R. Shah, New York state health commissioner, said Doctors Across New York Program awards funds to support recruitment and retention of physicians in underserved areas through salary enhancements, sign-on bonuses, loan repayment and other direct payments to physicians.

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Physicians participating in Doctors Across New York make a multi-year service commitment to practice in an underserved area in the state, Shah said.

"The Doctors Across New York Program is a critical program to help ensure that New Yorkers in every community in the state have access to high quality healthcare services," Shah said in a statement. "These grants will help these institutions increase access to vital healthcare services in rural and urban areas."

It is estimated that 25 percent of New Yorkers live in medically-underserved areas, and many communities lack physicians who can provide specialty medicine in areas such as psychiatry, obstetrics or gynecology, Shah said.

The program is expected to award approximately $12 million more in 2012 to healthcare providers and physicians for Physician Practice Support and Physician Loan Repayment funding, with applications accepted through March 30.

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Two-year awards of $100,000 were provided to the following institutions for physician practice support:

-- Ellis Hospital in Schenectady's inner city for family medicine.

-- Nathan Littauer Hospital Association in rural Gloversville for urology.

-- Dr. Alseny Balde in the Bronx for family medicine.

-- FLH Medical, PC in rural Geneva for psychiatry.

-- Geneva General Hospital in Geneva for general surgery.

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