II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4169 

To establish and support primary care team education centers, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2024 

Mr. KAINE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish and support primary care team education 

centers, 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 ‘‘Primary Care Team 

5 Education Centers Act’’ or the ‘‘PCTEC Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are— 

8 (1) to establish and expand primary care team 

9 education centers to— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4169 IS

1 (A) enhance and support the capacity of 

2 community-based ambulatory patient care cen3 ters to serve as sites to develop the next genera4 tion of health professionals to care for the 

5 needs of communities; and 

6 (B) develop and implement innovative em7 ployment, appointment, and compensation mod8 els to enhance and expand preceptors in pri9 mary care; and 

10 (2) to improve access to care by ensuring that 

11 more health professional students have clinical edu12 cation experiences in multidisciplinary primary care 

13 settings. 

14 SEC. 3. PRIMARY CARE TEAM EDUCATION CENTERS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part P of title III of the Public 

16 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 399V–8. SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY 

19 CARE TEAM EDUCATION CENTERS. 

20 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 

21 award grants to eligible entities for the purpose of estab22 lishing and expanding primary care team education cen23 ters. 

24 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT AND DURATION.—A grant awarded 

25 under subsection (a) shall be for a term of not more than 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4169 IS

1 5 years and the maximum grant award may not be more 

2 than $1,000,000 a year. 

3 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 

4 grant under subsection (a) shall use grant funds to estab5 lish or expand a primary care team education center to— 

6 ‘‘(1) develop or enhance partnerships with insti7 tutions of higher education that provide a recognized 

8 postsecondary credential in health care, or health 

9 care organizations that the Secretary has determined 

10 are capable of carrying out such a grant or contract, 

11 to— 

12 ‘‘(A) address clinical faculty, clinical site, 

13 and clinical preceptor shortages for health pro14 fessionals by— 

15 ‘‘(i) establishing mutually beneficial 

16 and sustainable agreements for precepting 

17 by the clinical staff of the primary care 

18 team education center, through innovative 

19 employment, appointment, and compensa20 tion models designed to enhance— 

21 ‘‘(I) recruitment and retention of 

22 such staff; and 

23 ‘‘(II) the role of such staff in en24 suring the effectiveness and sustain25 ability of the clinical site as part of 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4169 IS

1 the health professional student clinical 

2 education of a partnering entity; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) implementing a plan to address 

4 recruitment and retention of primary care 

5 team education center clinical staff who 

6 have entered into agreements under clause 

7 (i), which may include paying preceptor 

8 salaries; and 

9 ‘‘(B) support health professional student 

10 training in primary care by— 

11 ‘‘(i) implementing curricula to inte12 grate health professional student clinical 

13 education into primary care team edu14 cation centers, including strategies to ad15 dress health professional well-being and 

16 mental health; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) providing support for health pro18 fessional students, including assistance for 

19 housing near, or transportation to or from, 

20 the clinical site during the clinical training 

21 period; 

22 ‘‘(2) integrate and expand the role of health 

23 professionals not traditionally involved in the eligible 

24 entity’s primary care team, such as school nurses in 

25 elementary or secondary schools and community 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4169 IS

1 health workers, as part of the service continuum of 

2 the primary care team education center; and 

3 ‘‘(3) promote career advancement for health 

4 professionals employed by the primary care team 

5 education center. 

6 ‘‘(d) AWARD BASIS.—In selecting recipients for 

7 grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give pri8 ority to grant applications that— 

9 ‘‘(1) demonstrate how the program to be sup10 ported under the grant will, for the region to be 

11 served— 

12 ‘‘(A) identify the health professions with 

13 labor shortages; and 

14 ‘‘(B) increase the number of health profes15 sionals with disadvantaged backgrounds work16 ing in such health professions; and 

17 ‘‘(2) provide preceptor training and support to 

18 encourage eligible preceptors to participate in clin19 ical training, including nurses and advanced practice 

20 nurses. 

21 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—The recipient of a grant under 

22 section 749A or 340H shall not be eligible to receive a 

23 grant under subsection (a). 

24 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4169 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, di2 rectly or through grants or contracts, provide tech3 nical assistance for eligible entities receiving grants 

4 under subsection (a). 

5 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—For each year, the Sec6 retary shall use not more than 5 percent of the 

7 amount made available to carry out this section for 

8 technical assistance under this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(g) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit 

10 an annual report to Congress on the grants awarded under 

11 subsection (a). Each such report shall, at a minimum, in12 clude— 

13 ‘‘(1) the total number of grants awarded under 

14 subsection (a); 

15 ‘‘(2) a description of the primary care team 

16 education centers supported under each such grant; 

17 ‘‘(3) the number of students, by profession, who 

18 engaged in such primary care team education cen19 ters during the applicable academic year, in the ag20 gregate and disaggregated by grantee; 

21 ‘‘(4) in the aggregate and disaggregated by 

22 grantee— 

23 ‘‘(A) the number of health professional 

24 staff at such primary care team education cenVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4169.IS S4169

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4169 IS

1 ters engaged in classroom teaching or clinical 

2 precepting under the grant; 

3 ‘‘(B) an estimate of the number of teach4 ing or precepting hours provided under the 

5 grant; 

6 ‘‘(C) the number of health professional 

7 students, and the number of advanced practice 

8 nursing students, trained under the grant; and 

9 ‘‘(D) the number of health care profes10 sional preceptors recruited and retained under 

11 the grant; and 

12 ‘‘(5) a description of how each grantee met the 

13 needs of the health professionals served under the 

14 grant 

15 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en17 tity’ means an entity described in any of clauses (i) 

18 through (v) of section 749A(g)(3)(B). 

19 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

20 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

21 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 

22 Education Act of 1965. 

23 ‘‘(3) PRECEPTOR.—The term ‘preceptor’ means 

24 a health professional who provides supervision and 

25 personalized experiential learning training and inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:27 May 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4169.IS S4169

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4169 IS

1 struction and mentoring opportunities in the clinical 

2 practice of a health profession to a student in a 

3 health profession. 

4 ‘‘(4) PRIMARY CARE TEAM.—The term ‘primary 

5 care team’ means a team of 2 or more health pro6 viders who provide health services to individuals, 

7 families, or communities by working collaboratively 

8 with patients and their caregivers, to the extent pre9 ferred by each patient, to accomplish shared goals 

10 within and across settings in order to achieve coordi11 nated, high-quality care. 

12 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

13 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

15 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

16 ‘‘(3) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; and 

17 ‘‘(4) such sums as may be necessary for each 

18 fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

19 (b) LIMITATION ON ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER TEACH20 ING HEALTH CENTER DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.— 

21 (1) SECTION 749A.—Section 749A of the Public 

22 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293l–1) is amend23 ed— 

24 (A) by redesignating subsections (f) and 

25 (g) as subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4169 IS

1 (B) by inserting after subsection (e) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(f) LIMITATION.—A recipient of a grant under sec4 tion 399V–8 shall not be eligible to receive a grant under 

5 this section.’’. 

6 (2) GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

7 TEACHING HEALTH CENTERS.—Section 340H(a) of 

8 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 256h(a)) 

9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—A recipient of a grant 

11 under section 399V–8 shall not be eligible to receive 

12 a payment under this section.’’. 

13 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

14 760(c)(2)(A) of the Public Health Service Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 294k(c)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘sec16 tion 749A(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 749A(g)’’. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS