PROVIDENCE — Invoking national health-care reform and the legacy of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, officials on Wednesday announced a program to lure more primary-care physicians to Rhode Island by helping to pay off their medical school loans.

Rhode Island, like most of the rest of the country, is facing a shortage of primary-care doctors at a time when routine medical treatment and disease prevention is being touted as vital to overhauling the nation’s health-care system.

“If we don’t do something to start supporting primary care in Rhode Island, we are in for the long haul,” said James E. Purcell, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. He acknowledged that the nonprofit insurer should be “ashamed” of the role it has played in weakening primary care, including historically low reimbursements to such physicians.

Blue Cross has joined other local organizations to collaborate on a program to encourage more medical students to choose primary care as a profession — over better-paying specialties — and to come to Rhode Island to begin their careers.

The incentive: up to $20,000 annually for four years for loan forgiveness for primary-care physicians who opt to practice in Rhode Island.

A $1.1-million fund has been established with a one-time contribution of $500,000 from Blue Cross and $600,000 pledged over three years by the Rhode Island Foundation. The foundation’s contribution comes from a fund created by a $20-million payment from Blue Cross that was negotiated with the U.S. attorney as part of a settlement of corruption charges involving its executives and state lawmakers.

The proghram partners, which include the Rhode Island Medical Society and the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, are hopeful that their efforts will encourage more contributions.

Neil Steinberg, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, noted that 66,000 Rhode Islanders reportedly lack primary-care providers and that not one of Brown University’s recent medical graduates became a primary-care physician in Rhode Island.

While medical students are often said to launch their careers owing $140,000 in loans, that figure can easily be higher for those who attended higher-priced institutions such as Brown, said Diane Siedlecki, president of the medical society.

“For the first time in a very long time, I am feeling the love,” said Siedlecki, who said she was steered away from an interest in emergency medicine and into primary when most of her medical school costs were covered by joining the National Health Service Corps in the late 1970s.

Applications for loan forgiveness will be available beginning Sept. 15 at www.risla.com. The program may eventually serve other primary-care professionals, including physicians’ assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists and dental hygienists.

rsalit@projo.com