[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8022 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8022
To address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health
care workforce, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2022
Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself and Ms. Roybal-Allard) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health
care workforce, 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 ``International Medical Graduates
Assistance Act of 2022''.
TITLE I--INCENTIVIZING STATES TO ALLOW TRANSITIONAL PRACTICE BY
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES
SEC. 101. GRANTS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services may
award grants to States to develop and implement programs to allow
eligible international medical graduates, for a period of up to 4 years
while completing steps 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing
Examination, to practice medicine in the respective State under the
supervision of a fully licensed physician.
(b) Definition.--In this section:
(1) The term ``eligible international medical graduate''
means an individual who--
(A) graduated from a school of medicine outside of
the United States or Canada; and
(B) is--
(i) lawfully admitted for permanent
residence;
(ii) admitted as a refugee under section
207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1157);
(iii) granted asylum under section 208 of
such Act (8 U.S.C. 1158); or
(iv) an immigrant otherwise authorized to
be employed in the United States.
(2) The term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia
and any territory of the United States.
SEC. 102. EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN ELIGIBLE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES
FROM APPLICATION OF FTE CAP.
(a) In General.--Section 1886(h)(4)(H) of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(H)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new clause:
``(vii) Exemption of certain foreign
medical graduates from counting towards cap.--
``(I) In general.--For purposes of
applying the limit described in
subparagraph (F), a specified resident
(as defined in subclause (II)) shall
not be taken into account in
determining the total number of full-
time equivalent residents before
application of weighting factors (as
determined under this paragraph) with
respect to a hospital's approved
medical residency training program.
``(II) Specified resident
defined.--For purposes of subclause
(I), the term `specified resident'
means an eligible international medical
graduate (as defined in section 101(b)
of the Pathways to Health Care Act of
2022) who is a resident in a hospital's
approved medical residency training
program, but only if such hospital--
``(aa) has in effect an
agreement with a Federally
qualified health center under
which residents training in
such program spend time
training at such center;
``(bb) is located in a
State that allows such eligible
international medical graduates
to practice medicine as
described in section 101(a) of
such Act; and
``(cc) predominantly serves
medically underserved
populations (as defined in
section 330(b)(3)(A) of the
Public Health Service Act), as
determined by the Secretary.''.
(b) Study on Removal of Resident Cap.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health
and Human Services shall submit to Congress a report on the possibility
of removing the resident cap under section 1886(h)(4)(F) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(F)).
TITLE II--ASSISTING INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES DURING PURSUIT OF
LICENSURE
SEC. 201. GRANTS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services may
award grants to States to provide assistance to eligible international
medical graduates while such graduates are completing steps 1 and 2 of
the United States Medical Licensing Examination.
(b) Covered Assistance.--Assistance provided to an eligible
international medical graduate pursuant to this section may include
paying the costs of the United States Medical Licensing Examination,
career counseling, case management, classes in English as a second
language, assistance in diploma verification, and test preparation
courses.
(c) Definition.--In this section, the terms ``eligible
international medical graduate'' and ``State'' have the meanings given
to those terms in section 101.
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