Fellow NHSC scholars.....relax!! I too considered cancelling my scholarship over this very issue. Things are in a state of flux while they transition into better management and better customer service. But mind you, yes they have changed some of the wording of the scholarship, and yes they have changed some of the criteria, but there are reasons for this. What you don't know is that when you get into residency, there is a specific branch of the NHSC who's only job is to make sure that YOU have adequate numbers of choices for the next cycle. The law recently changed so that they MUST have at least 2:1 numbers of sites that fit the criteria for your payback. If they do not have that many, they will often allow you to choose from one with a lower HPSA score. And one thing that you may not know about. There is a federal website where you can go to locate all the HPSA areas in the country. It really doesn't even matter if they currently have an opening for you, because if you are creative ahead of time you can create one yourself. For instance...I am from Houston, and there are parts of Houston that have HPSA scores well deserving of my services when I am done. Now there are currently no jobs on the list in this HPSA because the community health center for whatever reason has not gone about trying to recruit any docs. BUT, all I would have to do would be contact another practice in that area and try and get them to take me on as an associate partner. Then even if they are not willing to pay me, I can summon a hospital guarantee from the local hospital which basically guarantees your salary for the first year. Remember, NHSC says that you will go to the NHSC area you are assigned, but realize that this is only in the wording because some people do end up having to be placed for whatever reason. But that is such a small percentage...somewhere around 2% or less. You have to backdoor the system sometimes and allow the loopholes to work for you. For instance, once I decide on a residency, I am going to try and work out a plan with the community health centers in the nearby HPSA so that I basically have a job waiting for me and won't have to move. This might not work, but trust me when I tell you, if you use the government's words to your benefit, you can almost always encounter a good outcome. I saw this during my military service, and I saw it again when I got this scholarship.
And one last word of encouragement. Last year in Baltimore, I was at the new scholar's conference and I specifically raised my hand and asked if we would ever be forced to work in a federal prison setting. I was told flat out that you would never be forced to do this. So I trust them when they said this. For those that do Psych though, I would really use the last 2 years of your residency to get to know your placement coordinator so that you can ensure a smooth transition to site selection.
Never fear the government. Their bark is much louder than their bite.
