[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4370 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4370
To establish and support primary care team education centers, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 22, 2026
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 2027;
``(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2028;
``(3) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2029; 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)''.
<all>