[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1745 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1745

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 
for volunteer practitioners at health centers under section 330 of such 
                                  Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2009

   Mr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Gene Green of 
    Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 
for volunteer practitioners at health centers under section 330 of such 
                                  Act.

    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 ``Family Health Care Accessibility Act 
of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Community Health Centers (CHCs) are nonprofit, 
        community supported health care facilities providing primary 
        and preventive health care services to over 15,000,000 low-
        income, underinsured, and uninsured families.
            (2) Nearly 70 percent of CHC patients have family incomes 
        at or below poverty ($15,000 annual income for a family of 
        three). In addition, nearly 40 percent of CHC patients are 
        uninsured.
            (3) For many patients, CHCs are the only source of health 
        care services available. While the number of uninsured patients 
        at CHCs is rapidly growing--from around 3,900,000 in 1998 to 
        over 5,900,000 today--the number of physicians available to 
        treat these patients is decreasing.
            (4) There is a critical shortage of physicians available at 
        CHCs to meet the health care needs of the uninsured and 
        underinsured. The Journal of the American Medical Association 
        reports a 13-percent vacancy rate for family physicians, a 9-
        percent vacancy rate for internists, a 20-percent vacancy rate 
        for OB-GYNs and a 22-percent vacancy rate for psychiatrists.
            (5) Physicians hired by CHCs are covered by the Federal 
        Tort Claims Act for medical liability costs. However, 
        physicians who wish to volunteer at CHCs are not covered by the 
        Federal Tort Claims Act.
            (6) CHCs have limited resources to meet the current and 
        future needs of the uninsured and underinsured. Physicians are 
        willing to volunteer at CHCs, however, they are dissuaded from 
        doing so because of the cost of medical liability insurance. 
        Extending Federal Tort Claims Act coverage to volunteer 
        physicians would result in more patients being served at a 
        lower cost at CHCs.

SEC. 3. HEALTH CENTERS UNDER PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT; LIABILITY 
              PROTECTIONS FOR VOLUNTEER PRACTITIONERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 224 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 233) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (g)(1)(A)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``or 
                employee'' and inserting ``employee, or (subject to 
                subsection (k)(4)) volunteer practitioner''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence, by inserting ``and 
                subsection (k)(4)'' after ``subject to paragraph (5)''; 
                and
            (2) in each of subsections (g), (i), (j), (k), (l), and 
        (m)--
                    (A) by striking the term ``employee, or 
                contractor'' each place such term appears and inserting 
                ``employee, volunteer practitioner, or contractor'';
                    (B) by striking the term ``employee, and 
                contractor'' each place such term appears and inserting 
                ``employee, volunteer practitioner, and contractor'';
                    (C) by striking the term ``employee, or any 
                contractor'' each place such term appears and inserting 
                ``employee, volunteer practitioner, or contractor''; 
                and
                    (D) by striking the term ``employees, or 
                contractors'' each place such term appears and 
                inserting ``employees, volunteer practitioners, or 
                contractors''.
    (b) Applicability; Definition.--Section 224(k) of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 233(k)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following paragraph:
    ``(4)(A) Subsections (g) through (m) apply with respect to 
volunteer practitioners beginning with the first fiscal year for which 
an appropriations Act provides that amounts in the fund under paragraph 
(2) are available with respect to such practitioners.
    ``(B) For purposes of subsections (g) through (m), the term 
`volunteer practitioner' means a practitioner who, with respect to an 
entity described in subsection (g)(4), meets the following conditions:
            ``(i) The practitioner is a licensed physician or a 
        licensed clinical psychologist.
            ``(ii) At the request of such entity, the practitioner 
        provides services to patients of the entity, at a site at which 
        the entity operates or at a site designated by the entity. The 
        weekly number of hours of services provided to the patients by 
        the practitioner is not a factor with respect to meeting 
        conditions under this subparagraph.
            ``(iii) The practitioner does not for the provision of such 
        services receive any compensation from such patients, from the 
        entity, or from third-party payors (including reimbursement 
        under any insurance policy or health plan, or under any Federal 
        or State health benefits program).''.
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