Physician Assistant Higher Education Modernization Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1685 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve education opportunities for physician assistants, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2019 Ms. BASS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve education opportunities for physician assistants, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Physician Assistant 4 Higher Education Modernization Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1685 IH SEC. 2. INSTITUTING BORROWING PARITY FOR PHYSICIAN 1 ASSISTANT STUDENTS UNDER THE FEDERAL 2 DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 455 of the Higher Edu- 4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e) is amended by add- 5 ing at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(r) INSTITUTING BORROWING PARITY FOR PHYSI- 7 CIAN ASSISTANT STUDENTS.—Notwithstanding section 8 428H(d)(2)(A), the maximum annual amount of Federal 9 Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans that a graduate stu- 10 dent in a physician assistant education program (as de- 11 fined in section 799B of the Public Health Service Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 295p)) may borrow in any academic year (as 13 defined in section 481(a)(2)) or its equivalent shall be— 14 ‘‘(1) $40,000 in the first academic year of such 15 program; 16 ‘‘(2) $40,000 in the second academic year of 17 such program; and 18 ‘‘(3) $15,000 in the third academic year of such 19 program.’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 21 this section shall apply with respect to award years begin- 22 ning more than 60 days after the date of enactment of 23 this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1685 IH SEC. 3. MAKING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS ELIGIBLE FOR IN- 1 CENTIVES WHEN SERVING AS PRIMARY CARE 2 PROVIDERS OR FACULTY MEMBERS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 428K of the Higher Edu- 4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078–11) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 6 following: 7 ‘‘(19) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.—The individual 8 is a physician assistant employed full-time— 9 ‘‘(A) as a physician assistant in a clinical 10 setting providing primary care services; or 11 ‘‘(B) as a member of the physician assist- 12 ant faculty at a physician assistant education 13 program (as defined in section 799B of the 14 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p)).’’; 15 (2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 16 following: 17 ‘‘(11) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT.—The term ‘phy- 18 sician assistant’ means an individual who— 19 ‘‘(A) graduated from a physician assistant 20 education program (as defined in section 799B 21 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 22 295p)); 23 ‘‘(B) is certified as a physician assistant by 24 the National Commission on the Certification of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1685 IH Physician Assistants or any successor organiza- 1 tion; and 2 ‘‘(C) either— 3 ‘‘(i) holds a valid and unrestricted li- 4 cense to practice medicine as a physician 5 assistant in the State in which the physi- 6 cian assistant practices in a clinical set- 7 ting; or 8 ‘‘(ii) is qualified for licensure in the 9 State where the individual is employed as 10 a full-time physician assistant faculty 11 member of a physician assistant education 12 program (as defined in section 799B of the 13 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 14 295p)).’’; and 15 (3) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 16 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2020’’. 17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 18 this section shall apply with respect to employment occur- 19 ring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1685 IH SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PROGRAMS AT 1 HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNI- 2 VERSITIES AND PREDOMINANTLY BLACK IN- 3 STITUTIONS. 4 (a) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVER- 5 SITIES.—Section 723 of the Higher Education Act of 6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1136a) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘physician 8 assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; 9 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(A), by inserting ‘‘physi- 10 cian assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; and 11 (3) in subsection (d)— 12 (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘physi- 13 cian assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; 14 (B) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15 at the end; 16 (C) by redesignating paragraph (12) as 17 paragraph (13); and 18 (D) by inserting after paragraph (11) the 19 following: 20 ‘‘(12) in the case of a grant for a physician as- 21 sistant education program (as defined in section 22 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 23 295p))— 24 ‘‘(A) creating or improving facilities for 25 Internet or other distance education tech- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1685 IH nologies, including purchase or rental of tele- 1 communications technology equipment or serv- 2 ices; and 3 ‘‘(B) collaborating with other institutions 4 of higher education to expand postbaccalaureate 5 degree offerings; and’’. 6 (b) PREDOMINANTLY BLACK INSTITUTIONS.—Sec- 7 tion 724 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8 1136b) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘physician 10 assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; 11 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(A), by inserting ‘‘physi- 12 cian assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; and 13 (3) in subsection (d)— 14 (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘physi- 15 cian assistant studies,’’ after ‘‘allied health,’’; 16 (B) by redesignating paragraph (12) as 17 paragraph (13); and 18 (C) by inserting after paragraph (11) the 19 following: 20 ‘‘(12) in the case of a grant for a physician as- 21 sistant education program (as defined in section 22 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 23 295p))— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1685 IH ‘‘(A) creating or improving facilities for 1 Internet or other distance education tech- 2 nologies, including purchase or rental of tele- 3 communications technology equipment or serv- 4 ices; and 5 ‘‘(B) collaborating with other institutions 6 of higher education to expand postbaccalaureate 7 degree offerings; and’’. 8 (c) EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 9 TIONS.—Subsections (a) and (b) of section 725 of the 10 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1136c) are each 11 amended by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘fis- 12 cal year 2020’’. 13 SEC. 5. PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT POSTBACCALAUREATE OP- 14 PORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 514 of the Higher Edu- 16 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1102c) is amended by add- 17 ing at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDU- 19 CATION PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall give preference 20 to an application by an eligible institution for a grant 21 under this part that demonstrates that the grant funds 22 awarded under this part will be used to support physician 23 assistant education programs (as defined in section 799B 24 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p)).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1685 IH (b) EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 1 TIONS.—Section 528(a)(2) of the Higher Education Act 2 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1103g(a)(2)) is amended— 3 (1) by striking ‘‘$100,000,000 for fiscal year 4 2009 and’’; and 5 (2) by inserting after ‘‘such sums as may be 6 necessary for’’ the following: ‘‘fiscal year 2020 and’’. 7 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO RURAL SERVING INSTITUTIONS OF 8 HIGHER EDUCATION FOR PHYSICIAN ASSIST- 9 ANT EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 10 Part Q of title VIII of the Higher Education Act of 11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1161q) is amended— 12 (1) in section 861(b), by striking ‘‘For the pur- 13 poses of this section’’ and inserting ‘‘For the pur- 14 poses of this part’’; and 15 (2) by inserting after section 861 the following: 16 ‘‘SEC. 862. GRANTS TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND 17 EXPANSION OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDU- 18 CATION PROGRAMS AT RURAL-SERVING IN- 19 STITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 20 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 22 to award grants on a competitive basis to a rural- 23 serving institution of higher education or a consor- 24 tium of such institutions— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 1685 IH ‘‘(A) to increase, for students from rural 1 areas, enrollment and graduation rates for 2 postbaccalaureate physician assistant education 3 programs; and 4 ‘‘(B) to train physician assistants in rural 5 areas through the development of new physician 6 assistant education programs and the expansion 7 of existing physician assistant education pro- 8 grams in rural areas. 9 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 10 section shall be awarded for a period of not longer 11 than 3 years. 12 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—A rural-serving institution 13 of higher education or a consortium of such institu- 14 tions shall not receive more than one grant under 15 this section. 16 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each rural-serving institu- 18 tion of higher education or consortium of such insti- 19 tutions desiring a grant under this section shall sub- 20 mit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 21 such manner, and containing such information as 22 the Secretary may require. 23 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 24 section, the Secretary shall give priority to applica- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 1685 IH tions that demonstrate the most potential and pro- 1 pose the most promising and innovative approaches 2 for— 3 ‘‘(A) creating new physician assistant edu- 4 cation programs in rural areas; 5 ‘‘(B) increasing the number of physician 6 assistants that practice medicine in rural areas; 7 ‘‘(C) meeting the employment needs of re- 8 gional employers of physician assistants with 9 graduates of physician assistant education pro- 10 grams at rural-serving institutions of higher 11 education; and 12 ‘‘(D) improving the health of Americans 13 residing in rural areas. 14 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A rural-serving institution of 15 higher education or consortium of such institutions that 16 receives a grant under this section shall use grant funds 17 for the establishment and expansion of physician assistant 18 education programs in rural areas. 19 ‘‘(d) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDUCATION PRO- 20 GRAM.—In this section, the term ‘physician assistant edu- 21 cation program’ has the meaning given to such term in 22 section 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 23 295p). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 1685 IH ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020 and 3 each of the five succeeding fiscal years.’’. 4 SEC. 7. IMPROVING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDUCATION 5 PROGRAMS. 6 Title VIII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 is 7 amended by inserting after section 898 (20 U.S.C. 8 1161aa–1) the following: 9 ‘‘PART BB—PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDUCATION 10 ENHANCEMENT 11 ‘‘SEC. 899. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM TO SUPPORT PHYSI- 12 CIAN ASSISTANT FACULTY PREPARATION. 13 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 15 grants to not more than 10 institutions of higher 16 education to develop, expand, and support graduate- 17 level programs to prepare certified physician assist- 18 ants to become physician assistant faculty members 19 in accredited graduate-level physician assistant edu- 20 cation programs through collaboration between such 21 a program and an institution of higher education 22 that awards a graduate degree in education. 23 ‘‘(2) CAP.—No institution of higher education 24 may receive more than an aggregate of $600,000 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 1685 IH under this section during fiscal years 2020, 2021, 1 and 2022. 2 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An institution of higher 4 education desiring a grant under this section shall 5 submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such 6 manner as the Secretary may require, an application 7 including— 8 ‘‘(A) a description of the intended collabo- 9 ration to develop, expand, and support grad- 10 uate-level programs to prepare certified physi- 11 cian assistants to become physician assistant 12 faculty members in accredited graduate-level 13 physician assistant education programs; and 14 ‘‘(B) an estimate of the number of stu- 15 dents who will be affected by such collaboration. 16 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri- 17 ority to applications that demonstrate the potential 18 to maximize quality instruction through the use of 19 technology. 20 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 21 date of the first grant under this section, the Secretary 22 shall submit to Congress a report that— 23 ‘‘(1) describes the steps taken to implement this 24 section; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1685.IH H1685 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •HR 1685 IH ‘‘(2) lists all recipients of grants under this sec- 1 tion as of the date of such submission. 2 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 ‘‘(1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 4 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 5 meaning given such term in section 101. 6 ‘‘(2) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDUCATION PRO- 7 GRAM.—The term ‘physician assistant education 8 program’ ha [Text truncated for display. 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