[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4169 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4169

 To establish and support primary care team education centers, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2024

   Mr. Kaine introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish and support primary care team education centers, 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 ``Primary Care Team Education Centers 
Act'' or the ``PCTEC Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to establish and expand primary care team education 
        centers to--
                    (A) enhance and support the capacity of community-
                based ambulatory patient care centers to serve as sites 
                to develop the next generation of health professionals 
                to care for the needs of communities; and
                    (B) develop and implement innovative employment, 
                appointment, and compensation models to enhance and 
                expand preceptors in primary care; and
            (2) to improve access to care by ensuring that more health 
        professional students have clinical education experiences in 
        multidisciplinary primary care settings.

SEC. 3. PRIMARY CARE TEAM EDUCATION CENTERS.

    (a) In General.--Part P of title III of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 399V-8. SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY CARE TEAM EDUCATION 
              CENTERS.

    ``(a) Program Authorized.--The Secretary may award grants to 
eligible entities for the purpose of establishing and expanding primary 
care team education centers.
    ``(b) Amount and Duration.--A grant awarded under subsection (a) 
shall be for a term of not more than 5 years and the maximum grant 
award may not be more than $1,000,000 a year.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under 
subsection (a) shall use grant funds to establish or expand a primary 
care team education center to--
            ``(1) develop or enhance partnerships with institutions of 
        higher education that provide a recognized postsecondary 
        credential in health care, or health care organizations that 
        the Secretary has determined are capable of carrying out such a 
        grant or contract, to--
                    ``(A) address clinical faculty, clinical site, and 
                clinical preceptor shortages for health professionals 
                by--
                            ``(i) establishing mutually beneficial and 
                        sustainable agreements for precepting by the 
                        clinical staff of the primary care team 
                        education center, through innovative 
                        employment, appointment, and compensation 
                        models designed to enhance--
                                    ``(I) recruitment and retention of 
                                such staff; and
                                    ``(II) the role of such staff in 
                                ensuring the effectiveness and 
                                sustainability of the clinical site as 
                                part of the health professional student 
                                clinical education of a partnering 
                                entity; and
                            ``(ii) implementing a plan to address 
                        recruitment and retention of primary care team 
                        education center clinical staff who have 
                        entered into agreements under clause (i), which 
                        may include paying preceptor salaries; and
                    ``(B) support health professional student training 
                in primary care by--
                            ``(i) implementing curricula to integrate 
                        health professional student clinical education 
                        into primary care team education centers, 
                        including strategies to address health 
                        professional well-being and mental health; and
                            ``(ii) providing support for health 
                        professional students, including assistance for 
                        housing near, or transportation to or from, the 
                        clinical site during the clinical training 
                        period;
            ``(2) integrate and expand the role of health professionals 
        not traditionally involved in the eligible entity's primary 
        care team, such as school nurses in elementary or secondary 
        schools and community health workers, as part of the service 
        continuum of the primary care team education center; and
            ``(3) promote career advancement for health professionals 
        employed by the primary care team education center.
    ``(d) Award Basis.--In selecting recipients for grants under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to grant applications 
that--
            ``(1) demonstrate how the program to be supported under the 
        grant will, for the region to be served--
                    ``(A) identify the health professions with labor 
                shortages; and
                    ``(B) increase the number of health professionals 
                with disadvantaged backgrounds working in such health 
                professions; and
            ``(2) provide preceptor training and support to encourage 
        eligible preceptors to participate in clinical training, 
        including nurses and advanced practice nurses.
    ``(e) Limitation.--The recipient of a grant under section 749A or 
340H shall not be eligible to receive a grant under subsection (a).
    ``(f) Technical Assistance.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall, directly or through 
        grants or contracts, provide technical assistance for eligible 
        entities receiving grants under subsection (a).
            ``(2) Limitation.--For each year, the Secretary shall use 
        not more than 5 percent of the amount made available to carry 
        out this section for technical assistance under this 
        subsection.
    ``(g) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit an annual report 
to Congress on the grants awarded under subsection (a). Each such 
report shall, at a minimum, include--
            ``(1) the total number of grants awarded under subsection 
        (a);
            ``(2) a description of the primary care team education 
        centers supported under each such grant;
            ``(3) the number of students, by profession, who engaged in 
        such primary care team education centers during the applicable 
        academic year, in the aggregate and disaggregated by grantee;
            ``(4) in the aggregate and disaggregated by grantee--
                    ``(A) the number of health professional staff at 
                such primary care team education centers engaged in 
                classroom teaching or clinical precepting under the 
                grant;
                    ``(B) an estimate of the number of teaching or 
                precepting hours provided under the grant;
                    ``(C) the number of health professional students, 
                and the number of advanced practice nursing students, 
                trained under the grant; and
                    ``(D) the number of health care professional 
                preceptors recruited and retained under the grant; and
            ``(5) a description of how each grantee met the needs of 
        the health professionals served under the grant
    ``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means an 
        entity described in any of clauses (i) through (v) of section 
        749A(g)(3)(B).
            ``(2) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        `institution of higher education' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
            ``(3) Preceptor.--The term `preceptor' means a health 
        professional who provides supervision and personalized 
        experiential learning training and instruction and mentoring 
        opportunities in the clinical practice of a health profession 
        to a student in a health profession.
            ``(4) Primary care team.--The term `primary care team' 
        means a team of 2 or more health providers who provide health 
        services to individuals, families, or communities by working 
        collaboratively with patients and their caregivers, to the 
        extent preferred by each patient, to accomplish shared goals 
        within and across settings in order to achieve coordinated, 
        high-quality care.
    ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section--
            ``(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2025;
            ``(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2026;
            ``(3) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; and
            ``(4) such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year 
        thereafter.''.
    (b) Limitation on Eligibility for Other Teaching Health Center 
Development Grants.--
            (1) Section 749a.--Section 749A of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293l-1) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 
                subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (e) the 
                following:
    ``(f) Limitation.--A recipient of a grant under section 399V-8 
shall not be eligible to receive a grant under this section.''.
            (2) Graduate medical education program teaching health 
        centers.--Section 340H(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
        U.S.C. 256h(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Limitation.--A recipient of a grant under section 
        399V-8 shall not be eligible to receive a payment under this 
        section.''.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--Section 760(c)(2)(A) of the 
        Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294k(c)(2)(A)) is amended 
        by striking ``section 749A(f)'' and inserting ``section 
        749A(g)''.
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