The Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care Act, or SPARC Act, aims to address the critical shortage of specialty medical professionals in rural communities across the United States. It establishes a new loan repayment program under the Public Health Service Act, designed to encourage both specialty medicine physicians and, optionally, non-physician specialty health care providers to practice in these underserved areas.

Participants in the program would enter into agreements with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, to receive payments on eligible educational loans. In exchange, they commit to a six-year period of obligated service in a designated rural community experiencing a shortage of their specific specialty. For each year of service, one-sixth of the principal and interest on eligible loans would be repaid, with the remainder paid upon completion of the sixth year, up to a maximum of $250,000 per individual.

Eligible loans include those for specialty medicine or health care education, as well as various federal student loans like Stafford, PLUS, and Perkins loans. The bill specifies that participants cannot receive double benefits from other federally supported loan forgiveness programs for the same service. While the program primarily targets physicians, up to 15 percent of allocated funds may support non-physician specialty health care providers, who are defined as licensed professionals other than physicians providing non-primary care services.

The Secretary is also mandated to report to Congress every two years, starting five years after enactment, on the practice locations of participants and the program's overall impact on specialty care availability in rural shortage areas. Appropriations are authorized for fiscal years 2025 through 2034 to carry out the provisions of this Act.