[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3512 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3512

 To provide for the establishment of demonstration programs to address 
  the shortages of health care professionals in rural areas, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2003

    Mr. Otter (for himself, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Dicks, Mr. Smith of 
  Washington, Ms. Dunn, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Simpson, Mr. 
   Larsen of Washington, Mr. Nethercutt, Mr. Baird, Mr. Inslee, Mr. 
Rehberg, Mr. Young of Alaska, and Mrs. Cubin) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the establishment of demonstration programs to address 
  the shortages of health care professionals in rural areas, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS TO ENCOURAGE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO 
              PRACTICE IN RURAL AREAS.

    Part B of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 742. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS TO ENCOURAGE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO 
              PRACTICE IN RURAL AREAS.

    ``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
acting through the Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy, may 
award grants to 5 accredited schools of medicine or accredited schools 
of nursing to enable each such school to conduct a demonstration 
program to encourage more health professionals to practice in rural 
areas.
    ``(b) Use of Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--Amounts provided as a grant under 
        subsection (a) shall be used for the following:
                    ``(A) Developing new programs and improving 
                existing programs for encouraging youth in rural areas 
                to enter health professions.
                    ``(B) Strengthening and stabilizing the system of 
                training of health professionals that are needed (as 
                determined by the Secretary) in rural areas.
                    ``(C) Expanding the network of rural training 
                tracks in health professions.
            ``(2) Family medicine; nursing.--Of the 5 grants awarded 
        under this section--
                    ``(A) at least 1 shall be for a demonstration 
                program for physicians in family medicine that includes 
                a regional consortium with 3 or more family medicine 
                residency programs that--
                            ``(i) each have a residency rural training 
                        program; and
                            ``(ii) are located in 3 or more States; and
                    ``(B) at least 1 shall be for a demonstration 
                program for nurses, including registered nurses, nurse 
                anesthetists, and nurse practitioners.
    ``(c) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Secretary shall give priority to accredited schools of medicine or 
nursing that--
            ``(1) have a residency program or clinical rotation with 
        on-site rural training of a duration of at least 2 months; and
            ``(2) provide a comprehensive approach to improving health 
        profession shortages in rural areas that includes recruiting 
        students from rural areas and placing graduates in rural 
        communities.
    ``(d) Matching Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--With respect to the costs of a 
        demonstration program to be carried out under subsection (a) by 
        an applicant, the Secretary may not award a grant to the 
        applicant unless the applicant agrees to make available 
        (directly or through donations from public or private entities) 
        non-Federal contributions toward such costs in an amount that 
        is not less than 50 percent of such costs.
            ``(2) Determination of amount contributed.--Non-Federal 
        contributions required in paragraph (1) may be in cash or in 
        kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or 
        services. Amounts provided by the Federal Government, or 
        services assisted or subsidized to any significant extent by 
        the Federal Government, may not be included in determining the 
        amount of such non-Federal contributions.
    ``(e) Duration.--The Secretary shall award each grant under this 
section for a period of 3 years.
    ``(f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Accredited.--The term `accredited' means--
                    ``(A) for a school of medicine, accredited by the 
                Liaison Committee on Medical Education;
                    ``(B) for a school of nursing, accredited by the 
                Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education; and
                    ``(C) for a school of nursing relative to a nurse 
                anesthesia program, accredited by the Council on 
                Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs.
            ``(2) School of nursing.--The term `school of nursing' has 
        the meaning given to that term under section 801.
    ``(g) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the end of the 3-year 
period of the demonstration programs conducted with grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report containing 
findings and recommendations on the effectiveness of the demonstration 
programs in addressing the shortages of health care professionals in 
rural areas.
    ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2005 through 2007.''.
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