[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4957

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a health care 
                     workforce innovation program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

 Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Lujan) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a health care 
                     workforce innovation program.

    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 ``Health Workforce Innovation Act''.

SEC. 2. HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE INNOVATION PROGRAM.

    Section 755(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294e(b)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5)(A) Supporting and developing new innovative, 
        community-driven approaches for the education and training of 
        allied health professionals, including those described in 
        subparagraph (F)(i), with an emphasis on expanding the supply 
        of such professionals located in, and meeting the needs of, 
        underserved communities and rural areas. Grants or contracts 
        under this paragraph shall be awarded through a new program 
        (referred to as the `Health Care Workforce Innovation Program' 
        or in this paragraph as the `Program').
            ``(B) To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under 
        the Program an entity shall--
                    ``(i) be a Federally qualified health center (as 
                defined in section 1905(l)(2)(B) of the Social Security 
                Act), a State-level association or other consortium 
                that represents and is comprised of Federally qualified 
                health centers, a certified rural health clinic that 
                meets the requirements of section 334, or an 
                accredited, nonprofit post-secondary vocational program 
                that trains allied health professionals to work in 
                primary care settings; and
                    ``(ii) submit to the Secretary an application that, 
                at a minimum, contains--
                            ``(I) a description of how all trainees 
                        will be trained in accredited training programs 
                        either directly or through partnerships with 
                        public or nonprofit private entities, such as 
                        schools of allied health;
                            ``(II) a description of the community-
                        driven health care workforce innovation model 
                        to be carried out under the grant or contract, 
                        including the specific allied health 
                        professions to be funded;
                            ``(III) the geographic service area that 
                        will be served, including quantitative data, if 
                        available, showing that such particular area 
                        faces a shortage of allied health professionals 
                        and lacks access to health care;
                            ``(IV) a description of the benefits 
                        provided to each health care professional 
                        trained under the proposed model during the 
                        education and training phase;
                            ``(V) a description of the experience that 
                        the applicant has in the recruitment, 
                        retention, and promotion of the well-being of 
                        workers and volunteers;
                            ``(VI) a description of how the funding 
                        awarded under the Program will supplement 
                        rather than supplant existing funding;
                            ``(VII) a description of the scalability 
                        and replicability of the community-driven 
                        approach to be funded under the Program;
                            ``(VIII) a description of the 
                        infrastructure, outreach and communication plan 
                        and other program support costs required to 
                        operationalize the proposed model; and
                            ``(IX) any other information, as the 
                        Secretary determines appropriate.
            ``(C)(i) An entity shall use amounts received under a grant 
        or contract awarded under the Program to carry out the 
        innovative, community-driven model described in the application 
        under subparagraph (B). Such amounts may be used for launching 
        new or expanding existing innovative health care professional 
        partnerships, including the following specific uses:
                    ``(I) Establishing or expanding a partnership 
                between such entity and 1 or more high schools, 
                accredited public or nonprofit private vocational-
                technical schools, accredited public or nonprofit 
                private 2-year colleges, area health education centers, 
                and entities with clinical settings for the provision 
                of education and training opportunities not available 
                at the grantee's facilities.
                    ``(II) Providing education and training programs to 
                improve allied health professionals' readiness in 
                settings that serve underserved communities and rural 
                areas; encouraging students from underserved and 
                disadvantaged backgrounds and former patients to 
                consider careers in health care, and better reflecting 
                and meeting community needs; providing education and 
                training programs for individuals to work in patient-
                centered, team-based, community-driven health care 
                models that include integration with other clinical 
                practitioners and training in cultural and linguistic 
                competence; providing pre-apprenticeship and 
                apprenticeship programs for health care technical, 
                support, and entry-level occupations, particularly for 
                those enrolled in dual or concurrent enrollment 
                programs; building a preceptorship training-to-practice 
                model for medical, behavioral health, oral health, and 
                public health disciplines in an integrated, community-
                driven setting; providing and expanding internships, 
                career ladders, and development opportunities for 
                health care professionals, including new and existing 
                staff; or investing in training equipment, supplies, 
                and limited renovations or retrofitting of training 
                space needed for grantees to carry out their particular 
                model.
            ``(ii) Amounts received under a grant or contract awarded 
        under the Program shall not be used to support construction 
        costs or to supplant funding from existing programs that 
        support the applicant's health workforce.
            ``(iii) Models funded under the Program shall be for a 
        duration of at least 3 years.
            ``(D) In awarding grants or contracts under the Program, 
        the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that will use 
        grant or contract funds to support workforce innovation models 
        that increase the number of individuals from underserved and 
        disadvantaged backgrounds working in such health care 
        professions, improve access to health care (including medical, 
        behavioral health and oral health) in underserved communities, 
        or demonstrate that the model can be replicated in other 
        underserved communities in a cost-efficient and effective 
        manner to achieve the purposes of the Program.
            ``(E) An entity that receives a grant or contract under the 
        Program shall provide periodic reports to the Secretary 
        detailing the findings and outcomes of the innovative, 
        community-driven model carried out under the grant. Such 
        reports shall contain information in a manner and at such times 
        as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
            ``(F) In this paragraph:
                    ``(i) The term `allied health professional' 
                includes individuals who provide clinical support 
                services, including medical assistants, dental 
                assistants, dental hygienists, dental therapists, 
                pharmacy technicians, physical therapists, physical 
                therapist assistants and health care interpreters; 
                individuals providing non-clinical support, such as 
                billing and coding professionals and health information 
                technology professionals; dieticians; medical 
                technologists; emergency medical technicians; community 
                health workers; health education specialists; health 
                care paraprofessionals; and peer support specialists.
                    ``(ii) The term `rural area' has the meaning given 
                such term by the Administrator of the Health Resources 
                and Services Administration.
                    ``(iii) The term `underserved communities' means 
                areas, population groups, and facilities designated as 
                health professional shortage areas under section 332, 
                medically underserved areas as defined under section 
                330I(a)), or medically underserved populations as 
                defined under section 330(b)(3).
            ``(G)(i) There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 
        as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027, 
        to carry out this paragraph, to remain available until 
        expended.
            ``(ii) A grant or contract provided under the Program shall 
        not exceed $2,500,000 for a grant period.''.
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