II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5146 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 

to schools of medicine or osteopathic medicine at historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions for the 

purpose of increasing enrollment of medical students. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself and Mr. KAINE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to award grants to schools of medicine or osteopathic 

medicine at historically Black colleges and universities 

and other minority-serving institutions for the purpose 

of increasing enrollment of medical students. 

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 ‘‘Medical Graduate In5 vestment Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS. 

2 Subpart 3 of part E of title VII of the Public Health 

3 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295f et seq.) is amended by adding 

4 at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 779. EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

7 grants to eligible entities for the purpose of increasing en8 rollment of medical students by at least 5 percent each 

9 year as compared to the prior year. Grants awarded under 

10 this section shall be used for tuition and student fees (ex11 cluding living expenses), faculty recruitment and retention 

12 (with not more than 20 percent of the cost of salaries cov13 ered by such grants), costs associated with equipment (in14 cluding acquisition of equipment), and costs associated 

15 with clinical training of medical students and preparing 

16 and encouraging such students to serve as primary care 

17 physicians in medically underserved areas, including rural 

18 areas, frontier areas, and jurisdictions of Indian Tribes 

19 and Tribal organizations, after completing residency train20 ing. 

21 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

22 an award under this section, an entity shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) be— 

24 ‘‘(A) an accredited school of medicine or 

25 an accredited school of osteopathic medicine at 

26 a minority-serving institution of higher eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5146.IS S5146

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1 cation (defined as an institution described in 

2 any of paragraphs (1) through (7) of section 

3 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) 

4 or a minority-serving institution of higher edu5 cation (as so defined) with plans to establish an 

6 accredited school of medicine or an accredited 

7 school of osteopathic medicine, if such institu8 tion provides documentation of such plans, as 

9 the Secretary may require; 

10 ‘‘(B) an accredited school of medicine or 

11 an accredited school of osteopathic medicine 

12 that, at the time of the application, has an 

13 agreement with a historically Black college or 

14 university (as defined in paragraph (1) of sec15 tion 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

16 1965) to enroll, in the school of medicine or 

17 school of osteopathic medicine, students who 

18 have completed their undergraduate education 

19 at such minority-serving institution of higher 

20 education, provided that such school of medi21 cine or school of osteopathic medicine intends to 

22 use the award under this section to increase en23 rollment of such students in accordance with 

24 the threshold described in subsection (a); or 


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1 ‘‘(C) an accredited school of medicine or 

2 an accredited school of osteopathic medicine 

3 that— 

4 ‘‘(i) at the time of the application, has 

5 an agreement with an Indian Tribe (as de6 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self Deter7 mination and Education Assistance Act) to 

8 provide medical education for American In9 dian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian 

10 students; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) an accredited school of medicine 

12 or an accredited school of osteopathic med13 icine that trains in Tribal communities or 

14 otherwise has a history of graduating a 

15 high number of physicians who, after com16 pletion of residency, practice in Tribal 

17 communities in rural or frontier areas; and 

18 ‘‘(2) submit to the Secretary an application at 

19 such time, in such manner, and containing such in20 formation as the Secretary may require, including 

21 information on how the entity will sustain increased 

22 enrollment of medical students following the expira23 tions of grant funds provided under this section. 

24 ‘‘(c) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) MINIMUM AWARD; DISBURSEMENTS.—The 

2 Secretary shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) determine the amount of each award 

4 under this section, provided that each eligible 

5 entity receiving such an award shall receive a 

6 minimum amount of $1,000,000 per year of the 

7 5-year grant period; and 

8 ‘‘(B) disburse the grant amount to each el9 igible entity receiving such an award in 5 an10 nual increments. 

11 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION AMONG TYPES OF ELIGIBLE

12 ENTITIES.—In awarding amounts to eligible entities 

13 under this section, the Secretary shall disburse grant 

14 funding evenly among the following 9 categories 

15 (subject to the receipt of applications from eligible 

16 entities in each of the categories described in sub17 paragraph (A)): 

18 ‘‘(A) Eligible entities in each category of 

19 minority serving institution of higher education 

20 described in paragraphs (1) through (7) of sec21 tion 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

22 1965. 

23 ‘‘(B) Eligible entities described in sub24 section (b)(1)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(C) Eligible entities described in sub2 section (b)(1)(C). 

3 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION.—The Secretary may reserve 

4 not more than half of one percent of amounts made 

5 available under subsection (f) to evaluate the results 

6 of the program under this section during and after 

7 the grant period, including the number of new med8 ical students enrolled, such students’ progression to 

9 participate in an accredited internship or medical 

10 residency program, and rates of passing the United 

11 States Medical Licensing Examination or the Com12 prehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examina13 tion. 

14 ‘‘(d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary 

15 shall require each eligible entity receiving an award under 

16 this section to provide non-Federal matching funds for 

17 each year of the grant period, which may be in cash or 

18 in-kind, in an amount equal to 25 percent of the total 

19 amount of funds awarded under this section for the appli20 cable year. An eligible entity may apply to the Secretary 

21 for a waiver of not more than 80 percent of the matching 

22 fund amount required for each year the entity receives an 

23 award under this section. 

24 ‘‘(e) REPORTING.— 

25 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY REPORTING.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible entity 

2 receiving a grant under this section shall sub3 mit a report to the Secretary, annually for the 

4 duration of the grant period, on activities con5 ducted under such grant, including information 

6 on the number of new students enrolled, faculty 

7 supported, how funds under such grant were 

8 used, plans for continuation of the activities in 

9 the next budget period, and other information, 

10 as the Secretary may require. 

11 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—Each report under sub12 paragraph (A) shall include— 

13 ‘‘(i) an overview of activities con14 ducted under such grant; 

15 ‘‘(ii) associated costs of equipment 

16 purchased; 

17 ‘‘(iii) the number of new students en18 rolled in the applicable school of medicine 

19 or school of osteopathic medicine per year 

20 (including the number of students from ra21 cial and ethnic groups underrepresented 

22 among medical students and health profes23 sions, students who were Federal Pell 

24 Grant recipients, and first-generation col25 lege students); 


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1 ‘‘(iv) plans for continuation of the ac2 tivities in the next fiscal year; and 

3 ‘‘(v) any other information the Sec4 retary may require. 

5 ‘‘(2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

6 2 years after the first grants are awarded under this 

7 section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 

8 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 

9 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com10 merce of the House of Representatives a report that 

11 includes— 

12 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

13 the activities associated with grants made under 

14 this section; 

15 ‘‘(B) a summary of outcomes and best 

16 practices and recommendations on the recruit17 ment and retention of medical students; 

18 ‘‘(C) annual enrollment of students at each 

19 school of medicine or school of osteopathic med20 icine supported by the program; and 

21 ‘‘(D) summaries, including justification, of 

22 the allocations of grant funds made by the Sec23 retary. 

24 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

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1 priated $60,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 

2 2030, to remain available until expended. 

3 ‘‘(g) NON-DUPLICATION OF EFFORTS.—The Sec4 retary shall ensure that activities carried out under this 

5 section do not unnecessarily duplicate efforts of any other 

6 Federal program.’’. 

Æ 


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