Allied Health Personnel Shortage Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6302 To amend the Public Health Service Act to respond to the shortage of allied health professionals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 19, 2020 Mr. CICILLINE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to respond to the shortage of allied health professionals, 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 ‘‘Allied Health Per- 4 sonnel Shortage Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE OF ALLIED HEALTH PRO- 6 FESSIONALS. 7 (a) SCHOLARSHIPS AND LOAN REPAYMENTS.—The 8 Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting after 9 section 755 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 294e) the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6302.IH H6302 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6302 IH ‘‘SEC. 755A. SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REPAYMENT PRO- 1 GRAM FOR ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 3 program of entering into agreements with individuals 4 under which— 5 ‘‘(1) the Secretary agrees— 6 ‘‘(A) to award a scholarship to the indi- 7 vidual to pursue a degree in a science relating 8 to health care at a school of allied health; or 9 ‘‘(B) to pay the principal, interest, and re- 10 lated expenses on government and commercial 11 loans received by the individual to pursue such 12 a degree at a school of allied health; and 13 ‘‘(2) the individual agrees to complete a period 14 of obligated service as an allied health professional 15 in— 16 ‘‘(A) a health professional shortage area 17 designated under section 332; or 18 ‘‘(B) an area designated by the Secretary 19 for purpose of this section as having a shortage 20 of allied health professionals. 21 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—The Secretary shall 22 model— 23 ‘‘(1) the scholarship program under subsection 24 (a) on the provisions applicable to the National 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6302.IH H6302 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6302 IH Health Service Corps Scholarship Program under 1 subpart III of part D of title III; and 2 ‘‘(2) the loan repayment program under sub- 3 section (a) on the provisions applicable to the Na- 4 tional Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Pro- 5 gram under such subpart. 6 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 7 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 8 $25,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2021 through 9 2025.’’. 10 (b) RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE OF QUALIFYING AL- 11 LIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 1 year after the 13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 14 Health and Human Services, in collaboration with 15 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall— 16 (A) identify categories of qualifying allied 17 health professionals which are in shortage; and 18 (B) annually publish a list of such cat- 19 egories in the Federal Register. 20 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 21 (A) The term ‘‘allied health professional’’ 22 has the meaning given to the term ‘‘allied 23 health professionals’’ in section 799B(5) of the 24 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p(5)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6302.IH H6302 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6302 IH (B) The term ‘‘qualifying allied health pro- 1 fessional’’ means an allied health professional 2 who is authorized to provide health care serv- 3 ices under the Medicare program under title 4 XVIII of the Social Security Act and under the 5 Medicaid programs under title XIX of such Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Mar 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6302.IH H6302 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS