U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, is urging the U.S. Health Resources and Service Administration to explore flexibilities to enable Cook County Jail to participate as an eligible site under the National Health Service Corps.

Under current law, doctors, nurses, dentists and behavioral health care providers can obtain loan repayment under the NHSC for service in a federal or state prison. Durbin said given the size and care needs at Cook County Jail, one of the largest mental health providers in the country, participation in the NHSC would assist with recruitment and retention efforts for health care providers.

In a letter with U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, who is seeking to get similar eligibility for Maricopa County (Arizona) Jail, Durbin wrote, “Given the unique circumstances and challenges associated with providing health care in a correctional facility, county-run jails face significant barriers to recruitment of qualified health professionals. While federal and state correctional facilities are eligible for the scholarship and loan repayment incentives afforded by the NHSC, a 1989 federal regulation narrowed eligibility to exclude county jails. In that rule, HRSA acknowledges a comment indicating that facilities serving major metropolitan areas often operate in lieu of state facilities, to which HRSA replied, “The department recognizes this problem and will consider case-by-case exceptions for large correctional facilities in major metropolitan areas.”

The senators noted that health-care services in jails are essential. They said studies have shown the risk of overdoses shortly after release from incarceration is at least 10 times greater than the overdose risk to the general population.

In 2019, the hepatitis C-related death rate for incarcerated individuals was more than double the rate of the overall population. The COVID-19 pandemic further demonstrated the acute risk of infectious disease transmission in jails, Kelly and Durbin pointed out.

“Congress has made historic recent investments in the NHSC’s funding levels and is poised to do so again with the upcoming reauthorization of the NHSC’s mandatory funding stream,” the senators wrote. “Given this new funding and the unique circumstances at such large county jails, we urge HRSA’s flexibility in considering eligibility for these county-run correctional facilities.”

Nationwide, there are 20,000 health professionals, including 1,000 in Illinois, serving under the NHSC — treating 21 million patients.

Durbin’s Restoring America’s Health Care Workforce and Readiness Act with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, would reauthorize and increase funding for the NHSC.

Durbin also authored a provision in the American Rescue Plan to invest $1 billion into the NHSC for scholarship and loan repayment and has introduced the Rural America Health Corps Act with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee).