[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2597 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2597

   To authorize a 3-year demonstration program to recruit and train 
                physicians to serve in a rural setting.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 6, 2002

    Mr. Craig (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Burns, Mr. Crapo, Mr. 
 Murkowski, and Ms. Cantwell) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize a 3-year demonstration program to recruit and train 
                physicians to serve in a rural setting.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Health Training Incentive 
Act''.

SEC. 2. WWAMI DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

    (a) Grant Authorized.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') is 
        authorized to award a grant to the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, 
        Montana, and Idaho joint medical school (in this section 
        referred to as ``WWAMI'') to strengthen and expand programs to 
        encourage more health professionals to practice in rural areas.
            (2) Duration.--The Secretary shall award the grant in 
        paragraph (1) for a period of 3 years.
    (b) Use of Funds.--The grant awarded pursuant to subsection (a) may 
be used for activities including--
            (1) developing new mechanisms for recruiting and mentoring 
        rural youth with respect to all health professions;
            (2) strengthening and stabilizing the system of training 
        for the family physicians needed in rural areas; and
            (3) expanding the network of rural training tracks 
        throughout WWAMI.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the end of the grant 
period described in subsection (a)(2), WWAMI shall submit to the 
Secretary a report evaluating the results of programs funded with the 
grant authorized under subsection (a)(1) and any recommendations 
regarding the effectiveness of such programs.

SEC. 3. PROJECT EXPANSION.

    (a) In General.--After submission of the report required in section 
2(c), the Secretary is authorized to award grants to eligible entities 
to expand the programs under section 2, and to implement the 
recommendations made in such report, in other geographic areas.
    (b) Eligible Entity Defined.--As used in this section, the term 
``eligible entity'' means a partnership between a regional university 
or college and the medical school associated with such university or 
college where such medical school has a rural area training track of at 
least 2 months.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act, except section 2(c) and section 3, $3,400,000 for fiscal 
year 2003, $4,100,000 for fiscal year 2004, and $4,800,000 for fiscal 
year 2005.
    (b) Evaluation.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out the report described in section 2(c), $500,000 for fiscal year 
2005.
    (c) Project Expansion.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out section 3, such sums as may be necessary beginning in fiscal 
year 2006.
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