Expanding Medical Education Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5654 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to institutions of higher education for the establishment of schools of medicine (or branch campuses) in underserved areas, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 17, 2020 Mr. COSTA (for himself, Mr. COX of California, and Mr. HARDER of Cali- fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to institutions of higher education for the establishment of schools of medicine (or branch campuses) in under- served areas, 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 ‘‘Expanding Medical 4 Education Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5654.IH H5654 2 •HR 5654 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR NEW SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE IN UN- 1 DERSERVED AREAS. 2 Subpart II of part C of title VII of the Public Health 3 Service Act is amended by inserting after section 749B 4 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 293m) the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 749C. NEW SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE IN UNDERSERVED 6 AREAS. 7 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through the 8 Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Ad- 9 ministration, may award grants to institutions of higher 10 education (including multiple institutions of higher edu- 11 cation applying jointly) for the establishment of a school 12 of medicine, or a branch campus of a school of medicine, 13 in an area that— 14 ‘‘(1) is a combined statistical area with a popu- 15 lation of over 1,000,000, as of the July 1, 2018, ac- 16 cording to the estimate of population by the Bureau 17 of the Census; and 18 ‘‘(2) has no school of medicine based in the 19 area. 20 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—In selecting grant recipients under 21 this section, the Secretary shall give priority to institutions 22 of higher education that— 23 ‘‘(1) propose to use the grant to establish a 24 school of medicine, or a branch campus of a school 25 of medicine, in a combined statistical area with 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5654.IH H5654 3 •HR 5654 IH fewer than 200 actively practicing physicians per 1 100,000 residents according to the medical board (or 2 boards) of the State (or States) involved; and 3 ‘‘(2) have a curriculum that emphasizes care for 4 diverse and underserved populations. 5 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—The activities for which a 6 grant under this section may be used include— 7 ‘‘(1) planning and constructing a new school of 8 medicine or branch campus described in subsection 9 (a); 10 ‘‘(2) accreditation and planning activities for 11 such new school of medicine or branch campus; 12 ‘‘(3) hiring faculty and other staff to serve at 13 such new school of medicine or branch campus; 14 ‘‘(4) recruitment and enrollment of students at 15 such new school of medicine or branch campus; 16 ‘‘(5) supporting educational programs at such 17 new school of medicine or branch campus; and 18 ‘‘(6) other efforts that the Secretary may deter- 19 mine further the development and expansion of a 20 new school of medicine or branch campus. 21 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a grant 22 under this section shall not exceed $10,000,000 for any 23 fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5654.IH H5654 4 •HR 5654 IH ‘‘(e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may 1 not award a grant to an applicant under this section un- 2 less such applicant agrees that, with respect to costs to 3 be incurred by the applicant in carrying out activities for 4 which the grant was awarded, the applicant will contribute 5 (directly or through donations from public or private enti- 6 ties) non-Federal contributions in cash or in-kind, in an 7 amount equal to not less than $1 for each $1 of Federal 8 funds provided through the grant. 9 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘branch campus’ means a geo- 11 graphically separate site at least 100 miles from the 12 main campus of a school of medicine where at least 13 one student completes at least 60 percent of the stu- 14 dent’s training leading to a degree of doctor of medi- 15 cine. 16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 17 has the meaning given to such term in section 18 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 19 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 20 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro- 21 priated $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 22 2025, to remain available until expended.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jan 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5654.IH H5654