Tax incentives being offered to primary care preceptors

(HealthDay)—Tax incentives are being offered to encourage physicians to serve as preceptors to medical students, according to a report published by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Maryland and Colorado have followed Georgia's lead of offering tax incentives ($1,000 tax credit) to physicians who serve as preceptors to medical students. Each state focused the measure on a specific need.

According to the report, the preceptor tax incentive in Maryland increases access to care in underserved areas and helps bolster primary care training. In order to be eligible for the tax incentive of $1,000 per student up to an annual maximum of $10,000, physicians who serve as preceptors must provide at least 12 weeks of clinical training. In Colorado, rural preceptors are provided with a tax credit of $1,000 regardless of the number of students. Credits are also available for advance practice nurses, physician assistants, and dentists in certain areas. The tax incentive was initially introduced in Georgia, to address the influx of medical students from outside the state, few of whom remained in the state to practice.

"What physicians want more than any financial incentive is to be valued and recognized for the work they do," Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, M.D., president of the Colorado AFP, said in a statement. "Even though the tax credit is a nominal amount it says, 'We value it and we want (physicians) to keep doing that.'"