II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5456 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize rural residency planning 

and development grant programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2024 

Ms. SMITH (for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize rural 

residency planning and development grant programs, 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 ‘‘Rural Residency Plan5 ning and Development Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 

2 PROGRAMS. 

3 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 330A– 

5 2 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 330A–3. RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOP7 MENT PROGRAM AND RURAL RESIDENCY 

8 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL 

9 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF RURAL RESIDENCY PRO11 GRAM.—In this section, the term ‘rural residency pro12 gram’ means a physician residency program, including a 

13 rural track program, accredited by the Accreditation 

14 Council for Graduate Medical Education (or a similar 

15 body) that— 

16 ‘‘(1) trains residents in rural areas (as defined 

17 by the Secretary) for more than 50 percent of the 

18 total time of their residency; and 

19 ‘‘(2) primarily focuses on producing physicians 

20 who will practice in rural areas, as defined by the 

21 Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(b) RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOP23 MENT PROGRAM.— 

24 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In 

25 this subsection, the term ‘eligible entity’— 

26 ‘‘(A) means— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a domestic public or private non2 profit or for-profit entity; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) an Indian Tribe or Tribal organi4 zation; and 

5 ‘‘(B) may include faith-based or commu6 nity-based organizations, rural hospitals, rural 

7 community-based ambulatory patient care cen8 ters (including rural health clinics), health cen9 ters operated by an Indian Tribe, Tribal organi10 zation, or urban Indian organization, graduate 

11 medical education consortiums (including insti12 tutions of higher education, such as schools of 

13 allopathic medicine, schools of osteopathic medi14 cine, or historically Black colleges or univer15 sities), or other organizations as determined ap16 propriate by the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

19 award grants to eligible entities to create new 

20 rural residency programs (including adding new 

21 rural training sites to existing rural track pro22 grams). 

23 ‘‘(B) FUNDING.—Grants awarded under 

24 this subsection may be fully funded at the time 

25 of the award. 


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1 ‘‘(C) TERM.—The term of a grant under 

2 this subsection shall be 3 years and may be ex3 tended at the discretion of the Secretary. 

4 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re6 ceive a grant under this subsection, an eligible 

7 entity shall prepare and submit to the Secretary 

8 an application at such time, in such manner, 

9 and containing such information as the Sec10 retary may require, including a description of 

11 the pathway of the rural residency program as 

12 described in subparagraph (B). 

13 ‘‘(B) PATHWAY.—A pathway of a rural 

14 residency program supported under this sub15 section shall be for— 

16 ‘‘(i) general primary care and high17 need specialty care, including family medi18 cine, internal medicine, preventive medi19 cine, psychiatry, pediatrics, or general sur20 gery; 

21 ‘‘(ii) maternal health and obstetrics, 

22 which may be obstetrics and gynecology or 

23 family medicine with enhanced obstetrical 

24 training; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) any other pathway as deter2 mined appropriate by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(c) RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOP4 MENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In 

6 this subsection, the term ‘eligible entity’ means— 

7 ‘‘(A) a domestic public or private nonprofit 

8 or for-profit entity; or 

9 ‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe or Tribal organiza10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

13 award grants to eligible entities to provide tech14 nical assistance to awardees of and potential 

15 applicants of the program described in sub16 section (b). 

17 ‘‘(B) FUNDING.—Grants awarded under 

18 this subsection may be fully funded at the time 

19 of the award. 

20 ‘‘(C) TERM.—The term of a grant under 

21 this subsection shall be 4 years and may be ex22 tended at the discretion of the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

24 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

25 prepare and submit to the Secretary an application 


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1 at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

2 information as the Secretary may require. 

3 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

5 appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 

6 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 

7 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts appro8 priated under paragraph (1) shall remain available 

9 to the Secretary until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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