[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 217 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Padilla):
  S. 3422. A bill to establish a grant program to support schools of 
medicine and schools of osteopathic medicine in underserved areas; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, communities of color and those living in 
rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to healthcare, 
including physician shortages that have only been exacerbated during 
the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, in many communities of color and 
rural areas, there are few pathways to enter the medical profession. 
While medical school enrollment is up by 30 percent, the number of 
students from rural areas entering medical school declined by 28 
percent between 2002 and 2017, with only 4.3 percent of all incoming 
medical students coming from rural areas in 2017. Similarly, Black, 
Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students face several barriers to 
matriculate and graduate from medical school, and there is significant 
underrepresentation of these students at all U.S. medical schools with 
the exception of historically Black medical schools. These medical 
schools represent 2.6 percent of all medical schools but 15 percent of 
Black medical students, indicating the important role that these 
institutions play in increasing the diversity of the physician 
workforce. Health outcomes for patients of color improve when they 
receive care from doctors of their own racial or ethnic background, and 
the shortage of providers of color exacerbates the barriers to care 
that these communities experience. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened long 
standing health inequities, and it is critical that we expand the 
diversity of our physician workforce to tackle these rampant 
disparities and the systemic biases within our health care system.
  This is why I am introducing the Expanding Medical Education Act, 
which aims to tackle the lack of representation of rural students, 
underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline 
by encouraging the recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students 
from disadvantaged backgrounds. The bill would provide grants through 
the Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA, to colleges and 
universities to establish or expand allopathic or osteopathic medical 
schools in underserved areas or at minority-serving institutions, 
including historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs. These 
grants can be used for planning and construction of a medical school in 
an areas in which no other school is based; hiring diverse faculty and 
staff; recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students; and other 
purposes to ensure increased representation of rural students, 
underserved students, and students of color in our physician workforce.
  Our rural communities and communities of color face significant 
challenges accessing healthcare. It is time our physician workforce 
reflected these communities. We need to diversify our physician 
pipeline and change the disparity in representation, and this bill will 
help get us there. I am proud to reintroduce this important legislation 
to help us get one step closer to ensuring communities across Virginia 
and the Nation have access to the medical professionals they need. I 
hope the Senate passes this legislation quickly.
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