Ohio PrimaryCare Practice Sites (OPPS) is a user-friendly, Web-based interactive software program designed to:

• Help facilities in underserved areas recruit primary care, mental health and dental health professionals; and
• Help clinicians interested in underserved areas find practice opportunities. 

Facilities

Facility staff can quickly and easily enter information about opportunities. The OPPS software has many fields for describing the site, including fields for site address, contact information, hospital coverage (if applicable), the number of other health professionals, eligibility status under the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) loan repayment or scholarship programs, and a comment field for describing other relevant factors about the site or community. Sites that accept Medicare and Medicaid and offer services to all regardless of ability to pay are highly encouraged to use OPPS. Practice sites that would be accepted into OPPS include:

• Primary care, dental or mental health clinics in Health Professional Shortage Areas
• Rural Health Clinics
• Critical Access Hospitals’ primary care clinics
• Other primary care, dental or mental health clinics located in Health Resource Shortage Areas
• Community Health Centers and Look-Alikes
• County-funded behavioral health centers
• Other safety-net sites providing outpatient care to the underserved

Clinicians

Clinicians seeking opportunities to work with underserved populations can complete professional profiles, which include discipline and specialty, professional preparation institution, experience, preferred size and geographic location for practice site, date available to practice, spouse or partner needs and other fields designed to help match the right clinician with the right opportunity.

Profiles are available for the following disciplines/specialties:
Primary Care – Primary care physicians (FP, IM, PED, IM-PED, OB-GYN), Advanced Practice Nurses (Family, Women’s, Pediatric), Certified Nurse Midwives, Physician Assistants, Nurses
Mental Health – Psychiatrists (General and Child/Adolescent), Licensed Independent Social Workers, Clinical Psychologists, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Psychiatric Nurse Specialists
Dental – Dentists, Dental Hygienists

To begin using OPPS, go to http://opps.odh.ohio.gov.

For additional information, contact:

Ohio Department of Health
Recruitment & Retention Coordinator
Primary Care and Rural Health
246 N. High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Telephone: (614) 644-8496
Fax: (614) 564-2432

E-mail: BCHS@odh.ohio.gov

Last Updated: 1/11/12

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