I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5032 

To amend chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs to establish a rural recruitment office within the 

Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit health care professionals, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 

Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself, Mr. CASE, and Mr. GROTHMAN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, to 

direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 

rural recruitment office within the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit health care professionals, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recruiting in Under5 served Rural Areas and Localities for Veterans Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘RURAL Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF RURAL RE2 CRUITMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 38, United 

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 7308 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 7308A. Office of Rural Recruitment 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab8 lish an office within the Office of the Under Secretary for 

9 Health to be known as the ‘Office of Rural Recruitment’ 

10 (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The purpose 

11 of the Office is to improve the recruitment of health care 

12 professionals for rural and highly rural community-based 

13 outpatient clinics and medical centers of the Department 

14 of Veterans Affairs. 

15 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.—The Under Secretary of Health 

16 shall appoint the head of the Office who shall be called 

17 the Director of the Office of Rural Recruitment (in this 

18 section referred to as the ‘Director’). 

19 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—(1) Annually, the Director, in collabo20 ration with the directors of each community-based out21 patient clinic and medical center of the Department of 

22 Veterans Affairs, shall, to determine the hiring needs of 

23 such clinics and centers, do the following: 

24 ‘‘(A) Assess the efficacy of hiring incentives to 

25 recruit health care professionals to practice in rural 

26 and highly rural community-based outpatient clinics 


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1 and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 

2 Affairs. 

3 ‘‘(B) Assess resources and funding necessary 

4 for rural and highly rural community-based out5 patient clinics and medical centers of the Depart6 ment of Veterans Affairs, which may include data 

7 from the most current determination published in 

8 the Federal Register pursuant to section 7412(a) of 

9 this title. 

10 ‘‘(C) Identify hiring incentive programs offered 

11 for retaining health care professionals (including the 

12 Education Debt Reduction Program, the Employee 

13 Incentive Scholarship Program, and other programs 

14 under chapter 76 of this title) that provide scholar15 ships, tuition reimbursement, and education debt re16 duction for health care professionals. 

17 ‘‘(D) Determine the number of health care pro18 fessionals who accepted positions in rural and highly 

19 rural community-based outpatient clinics and med20 ical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

21 during the previous fiscal year. 

22 ‘‘(E) Determine the number of health care pro23 fessionals that left positions described in subpara24 graph (D) during the previous fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The Director, in collaboration with the directors 

2 of each community-based outpatient clinic and medical 

3 center of the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall de4 velop and implement a national plan using information 

5 gathered under paragraph (1) and the strategies under 

6 subsection (d) to— 

7 ‘‘(A) recruit health care professionals for rural 

8 and highly rural community-based outpatient clinics 

9 and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 

10 Affairs; 

11 ‘‘(B) determine which such clinics or centers 

12 are high-need; 

13 ‘‘(C) develop best practices and techniques for 

14 recruiting health care professionals in rural and 

15 highly rural community-based outpatient clinics and 

16 medical centers of the Department of Veterans Af17 fairs; 

18 ‘‘(D) not less than twice each fiscal year, train 

19 rural recruitment employees in the best practices 

20 and techniques developed under subparagraph (C); 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(E) provide recruitment resources to the Vet23 erans Integrated Service Networks, rural and highly 

24 rural community-based outpatient clinics, and rural 

25 and highly rural medical centers of the Department 


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1 of Veterans Affairs, such as pamphlets and mar2 keting material. 

3 ‘‘(3) The Director shall coordinate an annual meeting 

4 for rural and highly rural community-based outpatient 

5 clinics and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 

6 Affairs to communicate rural recruitment needs among 

7 such clinics and centers. 

8 ‘‘(d) VETERANS INTEGRATED SERVICE NET9 WORKS.—The director of each Veterans Integrated Serv10 ice Network that includes at least one rural or highly rural 

11 community-based outpatient clinic shall annually develop 

12 and maintain a strategy to recruit health care profes13 sionals. Such strategy shall include the designation of at 

14 least one rural recruitment employee from the human re15 sources department of such Veterans Integrated Service 

16 Network, or if no such department exists, any department 

17 within such Veterans Integrated Service Network. 

18 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—(1) The director of each rural and 

19 highly rural community-based outpatient clinic and med20 ical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall 

21 submit to the director of the respective Veterans Inte22 grated Service Network of such clinic an annual report 

23 on hiring needs with respect to recruiting health care pro24 fessionals within such clinic. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The director of each Veterans Integrated Service 

2 Network described in subsection (d) shall submit to the 

3 Director an annual report containing— 

4 ‘‘(A) the strategy under such subsection; and 

5 ‘‘(B) a summary of hiring needs with respect to 

6 recruiting health care professionals in rural and 

7 highly rural community-based outpatient clinics. 

8 ‘‘(3) The Secretary, acting through the Director, 

9 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 

10 the House of Representatives and Senate an annual report 

11 containing the information gathered pursuant to sub12 section (c)(1) and the national plan under paragraph (2) 

13 of such subsection. 

14 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) The term ‘rural recruitment employee’ 

16 means an employee of a Veterans Integrated Service 

17 Network designated under subsection (d) who is re18 sponsible for recruiting health care professionals for 

19 rural and highly rural community-based outpatient 

20 clinics and medical centers of the Department of 

21 Veterans Affairs. 

22 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘rural’ and ‘highly rural’ have 

23 the meanings given such terms under the rural24 urban commuting codes developed by the Secretary 


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1 of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and 

2 Human Services.’’. 

3 (b) DESIGNATION OF RURAL RECRUITMENT EM4 PLOYEE.—Not later than September 30, 2023, the direc5 tor of each Veterans Integrated Service Network that has 

6 at least one rural or highly rural community-based out7 patient clinic shall designate a rural recruitment employee 

8 as required by the strategy described under section 

9 7308A(d) of title 38, United States Code, as added by 

10 subsection (a). 

11 (c) REPORTING TIMELINE.—The first reports under 

12 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 7308A(e) of title 

13 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall 

14 be submitted not later than 12 months, 18 months, and 

15 24 months, respectively, after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act. 

17 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

19 after the item relating to section 7308 the following new 

20 item: 

‘‘7308A. Office of Rural Recruitment.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. STUDY ON A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM AND ESTAB22 LISHMENT OF A FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR 

23 HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS. 

24 (a) STUDY ON THE FEASIBILITY OF A RURAL RE25 CRUITMENT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The Director of the 

2 Office of Rural Recruitment established under sec3 tion 7308A(a) of title 38, United States Code, as 

4 added by section 1(a), shall conduct a study on the 

5 feasibility of a scholarship program for health care 

6 professionals to attend the Uniformed Services Uni7 versity of the Health Sciences in exchange for serv8 ice as full-time employees at a rural or highly rural 

9 community-based outpatient clinic or medical center 

10 of the Department of Veterans Affairs for a period 

11 determined by the Director. 

12 (2) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION.—Not 

13 later than September 30, 2022, the Secretary, acting 

14 through the Director, shall submit to Congress a re15 port— 

16 (A) on the study conducted pursuant to 

17 paragraph (1); and 

18 (B) containing a recommendation with re19 spect to the operation of and funding for the 

20 program described under paragraph (1). 

21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RURAL HEALTH QUAL22 ITY AND ACCESS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—In carrying 

23 out section 7302 of title 38, United States Code, the Sec24 retary shall establish the Rural Health Quality and Access 


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1 Fellowship program to provide fellowships to health care 

2 professionals at the graduate or post-graduate level who— 

3 (1) serve on a short-term basis as full-time em4 ployees at a rural or highly rural community-based 

5 outpatient clinic or medical center of the Depart6 ment of Veterans Affairs; and 

7 (2) conduct research on— 

8 (A) improving the quality of rural health 

9 care, including best practices for remote health 

10 care; 

11 (B) access to health care in rural areas; 

12 and 

13 (C) recruitment and retention of health 

14 care professionals in rural areas. 

15 (c) HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL DEFINED.—In 

16 this Act, the term ‘‘health care professional’’ means an 

17 individual who qualifies as an appointee under section 

18 7402 of title 38, United States Code. 

Æ 


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