[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1457 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1457

To amend the Public Health Service Act to deem certain geriatric health 
 training to be obligated service for purposes of the National Health 
     Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2009

Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. McGovern, and Mr. Klein 
 of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to deem certain geriatric health 
 training to be obligated service for purposes of the National Health 
     Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, 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 ``Geriatrics Loan Forgiveness Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Between 2005 and 2030, it is estimated that the number 
        of adults aged 65 and older will almost double from 37,000,000 
        to more than 70,000,000, increasing from 12 percent of the 
        population of the United States to almost 20 percent of the 
        population.
            (2) The number of the ``oldest old,'' those who are 85 and 
        over, is also expected to nearly double, from 5,000,000 to 
        9,000,000 between 2005 and 2030.
            (3) These ``oldest old'' adults have the highest per capita 
        utilization of health care services, and their conditions are 
        often complex with multiple co-morbidities.
            (4) The Institute of Medicine's 2008 report, Retooling for 
        an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, 
        emphasized that, because of the increasing numbers of frail 
        older adults, there is an increasing need for geriatric 
        specialist care and for geriatric specialists to train the 
        entire health care workforce in geriatric principles.
            (5) Shortages in many health care professions are apparent 
        already in the United States. Shortages of geriatric 
        specialists are even more severe, with a decline in the number 
        of geriatricians and geriatric psychiatrists, and inadequate 
        numbers of geriatric social workers, nurses, psychologists, and 
        other health care professionals with geriatric expertise.
            (6) There are numerous barriers for health care 
        professionals interested in entering geriatric specialties, 
        including the time required for additional training and 
        financial disincentives.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 338C of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 254m) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Obligated Service.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of the Loan Repayment 
        Program under section 338B, each year during which an 
        individual is enrolled and participating in an accredited (as 
        determined by the Secretary) educational program that provides 
        geriatric health training shall be deemed to be a year of 
        obligated service. Upon the completion of such training, an 
        individual with respect to whom a year of training is deemed to 
        be a year of obligated service under this paragraph shall, 
        after consultation with the Secretary, provide geriatric health 
        services during the remainder of such individual's period of 
        obligated service.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The number of individuals for whom 
        geriatric health training is deemed to be obligated service 
        under this subsection shall not exceed 500 in any year.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply only to applications submitted to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services under section 338B of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 254l-1) on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>