II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4957 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a health care 

workforce innovation program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2024 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. LUJA ́N) 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 provide for 

a health care workforce innovation program. 

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 ‘‘Health Workforce In5 novation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE INNOVATION PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Section 755(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 294e(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4957 IS

1 ‘‘(5)(A) Supporting and developing new innova2 tive, community-driven approaches for the education 

3 and training of allied health professionals, including 

4 those described in subparagraph (F)(i), with an em5 phasis on expanding the supply of such professionals 

6 located in, and meeting the needs of, underserved 

7 communities and rural areas. Grants or contracts 

8 under this paragraph shall be awarded through a 

9 new program (referred to as the ‘Health Care Work10 force Innovation Program’ or in this paragraph as 

11 the ‘Program’). 

12 ‘‘(B) To be eligible to receive a grant or con13 tract under the Program an entity shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) be a Federally qualified health center 

15 (as defined in section 1905(l)(2)(B) of the So16 cial Security Act), a State-level association or 

17 other consortium that represents and is com18 prised of Federally qualified health centers, a 

19 certified rural health clinic that meets the re20 quirements of section 334, or an accredited, 

21 nonprofit post-secondary vocational program 

22 that trains allied health professionals to work in 

23 primary care settings; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) submit to the Secretary an application 

25 that, at a minimum, contains— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4957 IS

1 ‘‘(I) a description of how all trainees 

2 will be trained in accredited training pro3 grams either directly or through partner4 ships with public or nonprofit private enti5 ties, such as schools of allied health; 

6 ‘‘(II) a description of the community7 driven health care workforce innovation 

8 model to be carried out under the grant or 

9 contract, including the specific allied health 

10 professions to be funded; 

11 ‘‘(III) the geographic service area that 

12 will be served, including quantitative data, 

13 if available, showing that such particular 

14 area faces a shortage of allied health pro15 fessionals and lacks access to health care; 

16 ‘‘(IV) a description of the benefits 

17 provided to each health care professional 

18 trained under the proposed model during 

19 the education and training phase; 

20 ‘‘(V) a description of the experience 

21 that the applicant has in the recruitment, 

22 retention, and promotion of the well-being 

23 of workers and volunteers; 

24 ‘‘(VI) a description of how the fund25 ing awarded under the Program will supVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:33 Aug 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4957.IS S4957

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4957 IS

1 plement rather than supplant existing 

2 funding; 

3 ‘‘(VII) a description of the scalability 

4 and replicability of the community-driven 

5 approach to be funded under the Program; 

6 ‘‘(VIII) a description of the infra7 structure, outreach and communication 

8 plan and other program support costs re9 quired to operationalize the proposed 

10 model; and 

11 ‘‘(IX) any other information, as the 

12 Secretary determines appropriate. 

13 ‘‘(C)(i) An entity shall use amounts received 

14 under a grant or contract awarded under the Pro15 gram to carry out the innovative, community-driven 

16 model described in the application under subpara17 graph (B). Such amounts may be used for launching 

18 new or expanding existing innovative health care 

19 professional partnerships, including the following 

20 specific uses: 

21 ‘‘(I) Establishing or expanding a partner22 ship between such entity and 1 or more high 

23 schools, accredited public or nonprofit private 

24 vocational-technical schools, accredited public or 

25 nonprofit private 2-year colleges, area health 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4957 IS

1 education centers, and entities with clinical set2 tings for the provision of education and training 

3 opportunities not available at the grantee’s fa4 cilities. 

5 ‘‘(II) Providing education and training 

6 programs to improve allied health professionals’ 

7 readiness in settings that serve underserved 

8 communities and rural areas; encouraging stu9 dents from underserved and disadvantaged 

10 backgrounds and former patients to consider 

11 careers in health care, and better reflecting and 

12 meeting community needs; providing education 

13 and training programs for individuals to work 

14 in patient-centered, team-based, community15 driven health care models that include integra16 tion with other clinical practitioners and train17 ing in cultural and linguistic competence; pro18 viding pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship 

19 programs for health care technical, support, 

20 and entry-level occupations, particularly for 

21 those enrolled in dual or concurrent enrollment 

22 programs; building a preceptorship training-to23 practice model for medical, behavioral health, 

24 oral health, and public health disciplines in an 

25 integrated, community-driven setting; providing 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4957 IS

1 and expanding internships, career ladders, and 

2 development opportunities for health care pro3 fessionals, including new and existing staff; or 

4 investing in training equipment, supplies, and 

5 limited renovations or retrofitting of training 

6 space needed for grantees to carry out their 

7 particular model. 

8 ‘‘(ii) Amounts received under a grant or con9 tract awarded under the Program shall not be used 

10 to support construction costs or to supplant funding 

11 from existing programs that support the applicant’s 

12 health workforce. 

13 ‘‘(iii) Models funded under the Program shall 

14 be for a duration of at least 3 years. 

15 ‘‘(D) In awarding grants or contracts under the 

16 Program, the Secretary shall give priority to appli17 cants that will use grant or contract funds to sup18 port workforce innovation models that increase the 

19 number of individuals from underserved and dis20 advantaged backgrounds working in such health care 

21 professions, improve access to health care (including 

22 medical, behavioral health and oral health) in under23 served communities, or demonstrate that the model 

24 can be replicated in other underserved communities 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4957 IS

1 in a cost-efficient and effective manner to achieve 

2 the purposes of the Program. 

3 ‘‘(E) An entity that receives a grant or contract 

4 under the Program shall provide periodic reports to 

5 the Secretary detailing the findings and outcomes of 

6 the innovative, community-driven model carried out 

7 under the grant. Such reports shall contain informa8 tion in a manner and at such times as determined 

9 appropriate by the Secretary. 

10 ‘‘(F) In this paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(i) The term ‘allied health professional’ 

12 includes individuals who provide clinical support 

13 services, including medical assistants, dental as14 sistants, dental hygienists, dental therapists, 

15 pharmacy technicians, physical therapists, phys16 ical therapist assistants and health care inter17 preters; individuals providing non-clinical sup18 port, such as billing and coding professionals 

19 and health information technology profes20 sionals; dieticians; medical technologists; emer21 gency medical technicians; community health 

22 workers; health education specialists; health 

23 care paraprofessionals; and peer support spe24 cialists. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4957 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘rural area’ has the mean2 ing given such term by the Administrator of the 

3 Health Resources and Services Administration. 

4 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘underserved communities’ 

5 means areas, population groups, and facilities 

6 designated as health professional shortage areas 

7 under section 332, medically underserved areas 

8 as defined under section 330I(a)), or medically 

9 underserved populations as defined under sec10 tion 330(b)(3). 

11 ‘‘(G)(i) There are authorized to be appropriated 

12 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

13 years 2025 through 2027, to carry out this para14 graph, to remain available until expended. 

15 ‘‘(ii) A grant or contract provided under the 

16 Program shall not exceed $2,500,000 for a grant pe17 riod.’’. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS