II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 862 

To address health workforce shortages through additional funding for the 

National Health Service Corps, and to establish a National Health Service Corps Emergency Service demonstration project. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16, 2023 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To address health workforce shortages through additional 

funding for the National Health Service Corps, and to 

establish a National Health Service Corps Emergency 

Service demonstration project. 

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 ‘‘Restoring America’s 

5 Health Care Workforce and Readiness Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL HEALTH 

2 SERVICE CORPS. 

3 (a) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—Section 10503(b)(2) of 

4 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 

5 U.S.C. 254b–2(b)(2)) is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

7 and inserting a semicolon; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period 

9 and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(I) $625,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

12 ‘‘(J) $675,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(K) $825,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.’’. 

15 (b) NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS EMERGENCY

16 SERVICE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.—Part B of title 

17 XXVIII of the Public Health Service Act is amended by 

18 inserting after section 2812 (42 U.S.C. 300hh–11) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 2812A. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS EMER21 GENCY SERVICE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal years 2024 

23 through 2026, from the amounts made available under 

24 section 10503(b)(2) of the Patient Protection and Afford25 able Care Act, to the extent permitted by, and consistent 

26 with, the requirements of applicable State law, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Mar 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S862.IS S862

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1 retary shall allocate up to $50,000,000 to establishing, as 

2 a demonstration project, a National Health Service Corps 

3 Emergency Service (referred to in this section as the 

4 ‘emergency service’) under which a qualified individual 

5 currently or previously participating in the National 

6 Health Service Corps agrees to engage in service through 

7 the National Disaster Medical System established under 

8 section 2812, as described in this section. 

9 ‘‘(b) PARTICIPANTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) NHSC ALUMNI.— 

11 ‘‘(A) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS.—An indi12 vidual may be eligible to participate in the 

13 emergency service under this section if such in14 dividual participated in the Scholarship Pro15 gram under section 338A or the Loan Repay16 ment Program under section 338B, and satis17 fied the obligated service requirements under 

18 such program, in accordance with the individ19 ual’s contract. 

20 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY AND INCREASED FUNDING

21 AMOUNTS.— 

22 ‘‘(i) PRIORITY.—In selecting eligible 

23 individuals to participate in the program 

24 under this paragraph, the Secretary shall 

25 give priority— 


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1 ‘‘(I) first, to qualified individuals 

2 who continue to practice at the site 

3 where the individual fulfilled his or 

4 her obligated service under the Schol5 arship Program or Loan Repayment 

6 Program through the time of the ap7 plication to the program under this 

8 section; and 

9 ‘‘(II) secondly, to qualified indi10 viduals who continue to practice in 

11 any site approved for obligated service 

12 under the Scholarship Program or 

13 Loan Repayment Program other than 

14 the site at which the individual served. 

15 ‘‘(ii) INCREASED FUNDING

16 AMOUNTS.—The Secretary may grant in17 creased award amounts to certain partici18 pants in the program under this section 

19 based on the site where a participant ful20 filled his or her obligated service under the 

21 Scholarship Program or Loan Repayment 

22 Program. 

23 ‘‘(C) PRIVATE PRACTICE.—An individual 

24 participating in the emergency service under 

25 this section may practice a health profession in 


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1 any private capacity when not obligated to ful2 fill the requirements described in subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(2) CURRENT NHSC MEMBERS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual who is 

5 participating in the Scholarship Program under 

6 section 338A or the Loan Repayment Program 

7 under section 338B may apply to participate in 

8 the program under this section while fulfilling 

9 the individual’s obligated services under such 

10 program. 

11 ‘‘(B) CLARIFICATIONS.—Notwithstanding 

12 any other provision of law or any contract with 

13 respect to service requirements under the Schol14 arship Program or Loan Repayment Program, 

15 an individual fulfilling service requirements de16 scribed in subsection (c) shall not be considered 

17 in breach of such contract under such Scholar18 ship Program or Loan Repayment Program, 

19 provided that the individual give advance and 

20 reasonable notification to the site at which the 

21 individual is fulfilling his or her obligated serv22 ice requirements under such contract, and the 

23 site approves the individual’s deployment 

24 through the National Disaster Medical System. 


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1 ‘‘(C) NO CREDIT TOWARD OBLIGATED

2 SERVICE.—No period of service under the Na3 tional Disaster Medical System described in 

4 subsection (c)(1) shall be counted toward satis5 fying a period of obligated service under the 

6 Scholarship Program or Loan Repayment Pro7 gram. 

8 ‘‘(c) PARTICIPANTS AS MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL

9 DISASTER MEDICAL SYSTEM.— 

10 ‘‘(1) SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.—An individual 

11 participating in the program under this section shall 

12 participate in the activities of the National Disaster 

13 Medical System under section 2812 in the same 

14 manner and to the same extent as other participants 

15 in such system. 

16 ‘‘(2) RIGHTS AND REQUIREMENTS.—An indi17 vidual participating in the program under this sec18 tion shall be considered participants in the National 

19 Disaster Medical System and shall be subject to the 

20 rights and requirements of subsections (c) and (d) of 

21 section 2812. 

22 ‘‘(d) EMERGENCY SERVICE PLAN.—In carrying out 

23 this section, the Secretary, in consultation with the Ad24 ministrator of the Health Resources and Services Admin25 istration and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness 


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1 and Response, shall establish an action plan for the service 

2 commitments, deployment protocols, coordination efforts, 

3 training requirements, liability, workforce development, 

4 and such other considerations as the Secretary determines 

5 appropriate. Such action plan shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) ensure adherence to the missions of both 

7 the National Health Service Corps and National 

8 Disaster Medical Service; 

9 ‘‘(2) outline the type of providers determined by 

10 the Assistant Secretary to be priorities for participa11 tion in the program established under this section; 

12 ‘‘(3) describe how such deployments will be de13 termined and prioritized in a manner consistent 

14 with— 

15 ‘‘(A) the National Health Service Corps 

16 contracts; and 

17 ‘‘(B) the National Disaster Medical Sys18 tem’s deployment policy of not hindering civil19 ian responders already engaged in an emer20 gency response; 

21 ‘‘(4) ensure an adequate health care workforce 

22 during a public health emergency declared by the 

23 Secretary under section 319 of this Act, a major dis24 aster declared by the President under section 401 of 

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1 gency Assistance Act, an emergency declared by the 

2 President under section 501 of the Robert T. Staf3 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 

4 or a national emergency declared by the President 

5 under the National Emergencies Act; and 

6 ‘‘(5) describe how the program established 

7 under this section will be implemented in a manner 

8 consistent with, and in furtherance of, the assess9 ments and goals for workforce and training de10 scribed in the review conducted by the Secretary 

11 under section 2812(b)(2). 

12 ‘‘(e) CONTRACTS FOR CERTAIN PARTICIPATING INDI13 VIDUALS.—An individual who is participating in the emer14 gency service program under this section shall receive loan 

15 repayments in an amount up to 50 percent (as determined 

16 by the Secretary) of the highest new award made for the 

17 year under the National Health Service Corps Loan Re18 payment Program pursuant to a contract entered into at 

19 the same time under section 338B(g), in a manner similar 

20 to the manner in which payments are made under such 

21 section, pursuant to the terms of a contract between the 

22 Secretary and such individual. The Secretary shall estab23 lish a system of contracting for purposes of this subsection 

24 which shall be similar to the contract requirements and 

25 terms under subsections (c), (d), and (f) of section 338B. 


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1 Amounts received by an individual under this subsection 

2 shall be in addition to any amounts received by an indi3 vidual described in subsection (b)(2) pursuant to the 

4 Scholarship Program under section 338A or the Loan Re5 payment Program under section 338B, as applicable. 

6 ‘‘(f) BREACH OF CONTRACT, TERMINATION, WAIVER, 

7 AND SUSPENSION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) RECOVERY OF AMOUNTS IN THE EVENT

9 OF A BREACH.—If an individual breaches the written 

10 contract of the individual under subsection (e) by 

11 failing either to begin such individual’s service obli12 gation in accordance with such contract or to com13 plete such service obligation, the United States shall 

14 be entitled to recover from the individual an amount 

15 equal to the sum of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the total of the amounts paid by the 

17 United States under such contract on behalf of 

18 the individual for any period of such service not 

19 served; 

20 ‘‘(B) an amount equal to the product of 

21 the number of months of service that were not 

22 completed by the individual, multiplied by 

23 $3,750; and 

24 ‘‘(C) the interest on the amounts described 

25 in subparagraphs (A) and (B), at the maximum 


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1 legal prevailing rate, as determined by the 

2 Treasurer of the United States, from the date 

3 of the breach. 

4 ‘‘(2) TERMINATION OF CONTRACT.—The Sec5 retary may terminate a contract under subsection 

6 (e) in accordance with the termination standards 

7 that are— 

8 ‘‘(A) applicable to contracts entered into 

9 under section 338B; and 

10 ‘‘(B) in effect in the fiscal year in which 

11 such contract was entered. 

12 ‘‘(3) WAIVER OR SUSPENSION OF OBLIGA13 TION.—If an individual participating in the program 

14 under this section submits a written request to the 

15 Secretary, the Secretary may waive or suspend a 

16 service or payment obligation arising under this sub17 section or a contract under subsection (e), in whole 

18 or in part, in accordance with the standards set 

19 forth in section 62.12 of title 42, Code of Federal 

20 Regulations (or any successor regulations). 

21 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 

22 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit 

23 to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen24 sions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

25 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report that 


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1 evaluates the demonstration project established under this 

2 section, including— 

3 ‘‘(1) the effects of such program on health care 

4 access in underserved areas and health professional 

5 shortage areas and on public health emergency re6 sponse capacity; 

7 ‘‘(2) the effects of such program on the health 

8 care provider workforce pipeline, including any im9 pact on the fields or specialties pursued by students 

10 in approved graduate training programs in medicine, 

11 osteopathic medicine, dentistry, behavioral and men12 tal health, or other health profession; 

13 ‘‘(3) the impact of such program on the enroll14 ment, participation, and completion of requirements 

15 in the underlying scholarship and loan repayment 

16 programs of the National Health Service Corps; 

17 ‘‘(4) the effects of such program on the Na18 tional Disaster Medical System’s response capability, 

19 readiness, and workforce strength; and 

20 ‘‘(5) recommendations for improving the dem21 onstration project described in this section, and any 

22 other considerations as the Secretary determines ap23 propriate.’’. 

Æ 


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