Mental Health Professionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2500 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program for mental health professionals to relieve workforce shortages, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 Ms. HARRIS (for herself and Mr. GARDNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program for mental health professionals to relieve workforce shortages, 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 ‘‘Mental Health Profes- 4 sionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act of 5 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2500 IS SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH 1 PROFESSIONALS IN SHORTAGE. 2 Title VII of the Public Health Service Act is amend- 3 ed— 4 (1) by redesignating part G (42 U.S.C. 295j et 5 seq.) as part H; and 6 (2) by inserting after part F (42 U.S.C. 294n 7 et seq.) the following: 8 ‘‘PART G—MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN 9 WORKFORCE SHORTAGE 10 ‘‘SEC. 783. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR MENTAL 11 HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN WORKFORCE 12 SHORTAGES. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 14 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 15 Administration, shall carry out a program under which— 16 ‘‘(1) the Secretary enters into agreements with 17 individuals to make payments in accordance with 18 subsection (b) on the principal of and interest on 19 any eligible loan; and 20 ‘‘(2) the individuals each agree to complete a 21 period of service in a mental health professional 22 shortage area. 23 ‘‘(b) PAYMENTS.—For each year of obligated service 24 by an individual pursuant to an agreement under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2500 IS section (a), the Secretary shall make a payment to such 1 individual as follows: 2 ‘‘(1) SERVICE IN A SHORTAGE AREA.—The Sec- 3 retary shall pay— 4 ‘‘(A) for each year of obligated service by 5 an individual pursuant to an agreement under 6 subsection (a), 1⁄6 of the principal of and inter- 7 est on each eligible loan of the individual which 8 is outstanding on the date the individual began 9 service pursuant to the agreement; and 10 ‘‘(B) for completion of the sixth and final 11 year of such service, the remainder of such 12 principal and interest. 13 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total amount of 14 payments under this section to any individual shall 15 not exceed $250,000. 16 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE LOANS.—The loans eligible for repay- 17 ment under this section are each of the following: 18 ‘‘(1) Any loan for education in mental health or 19 a related field leading to a master’s degree, leading 20 to a doctoral degree, or consisting of post-doctoral 21 study. 22 ‘‘(2) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Fed- 23 eral Direct PLUS Loan, or Federal Direct Unsub- 24 sidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolida- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2500 IS tion Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of 1 the Higher Education Act of 1965). 2 ‘‘(3) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E 3 of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 4 ‘‘(4) Any other Federal loan as determined ap- 5 propriate by the Secretary. 6 ‘‘(d) PERIOD OF SERVICE.—The period of service re- 7 quired by an agreement under subsection (a) shall consist 8 of up to 6 years of full-time employment, with no more 9 than one year passing between any two years of covered 10 employment, as a mental health professional in the United 11 States in a mental health professional shortage area. 12 ‘‘(e) INELIGIBILITY FOR DOUBLE BENEFITS.—No 13 borrower may, for the same service, receive a reduction 14 of loan obligations or a loan repayment under both— 15 ‘‘(1) this subsection; and 16 ‘‘(2) any federally supported loan forgiveness 17 program, including under section 338B, 338I, or 18 846 of this Act, or section 428J, 428L, 455(m), or 19 460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 20 ‘‘(f) BREACH.— 21 ‘‘(1) LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FORMULA.—The 22 Secretary may establish a liquidated damages for- 23 mula to be used in the event of a breach of an 24 agreement entered into under subsection (a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2500 IS ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The failure by an individual 1 to complete the full period of service obligated pur- 2 suant to such an agreement, taken alone, shall not 3 constitute a breach of the agreement, so long as the 4 individual completed in good faith the years of serv- 5 ice for which payments were made to the individual 6 under this section. 7 ‘‘(g) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—The Secretary— 8 ‘‘(1) may establish such criteria and rules to 9 carry out this section as the Secretary determines 10 are needed and in addition to the criteria and rules 11 specified in this section; and 12 ‘‘(2) shall give notice to the committees speci- 13 fied in subsection (h) of any criteria and rules so es- 14 tablished. 15 ‘‘(h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 16 after the date of enactment of the Mental Health Profes- 17 sionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act of 2019, 18 and every other year thereafter, the Secretary shall pre- 19 pare and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com- 20 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 21 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 22 a report on— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2500 IS ‘‘(1) the number and location of borrowers who 1 have qualified for loan repayments under this sec- 2 tion; and 3 ‘‘(2) the impact of this section on the avail- 4 ability of mental health services in mental health 5 professional shortage areas. 6 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) The term ‘mental health professional’ 8 means a full-time job (including a fellowship) where 9 the primary intent and function of the job is the di- 10 rect treatment or recovery support of patients with 11 or in recovery from a mental health disorder, such 12 as a physician (MD or DO), psychiatric nurse, social 13 worker, marriage and family therapist, mental 14 health counselor, occupational therapist, psycholo- 15 gist, psychiatrist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, 16 or neurologist. 17 ‘‘(2) The term ‘mental health professional 18 shortage area’ means— 19 ‘‘(A) an area designated under section 332 20 with respect to a shortage of mental health pro- 21 fessionals; or 22 ‘‘(B) any facility, program, center, or clinic 23 as determined appropriate by the Secretary for 24 purposes of this section because of a shortage 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2500 IS of mental health professionals, including private 1 physician practices and other medical facilities 2 designated under section 332(a) as having such 3 a shortage. 4 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 6 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2029.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2500.IS S2500 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS