II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1344 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 

for volunteer practitioners at health centers under section 330 of such Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2005 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. DURBIN) 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 liability 

protections for volunteer practitioners at health centers 

under section 330 of such Act.

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 ‘‘Community Health 

5 Center Volunteer Provider Protection Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) As there are over 45,000,000 individuals 

9 lacking health insurance or who have inadequate 
2

•S 1344 IS

1 health care coverage in the United States, health 

2 centers under section 330 of the Public Health Serv3 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), including community 

4 health centers, are increasingly called upon to pro5 vide care to the uninsured and underinsured. 

6 (2) These health centers are being challenged 

7 by increasing financial pressures that jeopardize 

8 their ability to provide access to health services for 

9 a number of large medically underserved popu10 lations, including the elderly, the uninsured, and 

11 lower-income individuals. 

12 (3) Granting volunteer physician liability cov13 erage through the program under section 224(g) of 

14 the Public Health Service Act (relating to the provi15 sions of title 28, United States Code, that are com16 monly referred to as the Federal Tort Claims Act) 

17 (42 U.S.C. 233(g)) would significantly increase the 

18 number of physicians available onsite at such health 

19 centers. Federal studies have concluded that by of20 fering liability coverage, such centers are able to re21 direct funds to recruit full-time physicians and pro22 vide needed health care services to their commu23 nities. 

24 (4) In addition, an increase in volunteer physi25 cians at the health centers will result in a direct im-
3

•S 1344 IS

1 provement in the ability of the centers to offer qual2 ity health care services where the services are needed 

3 most. 

4 SEC. 3. HEALTH CENTERS UNDER PUBLIC HEALTH SERV5 ICE ACT; LIABILITY PROTECTIONS FOR VOL6 UNTEER PRACTITIONERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 224 of the Public Health 

8 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 233) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (g)(1)(A)— 

10 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘or 

11 employee’’ and inserting ‘‘employee, or (subject 

12 to subsection (k)(4)) volunteer practitioner’’; 

13 and 

14 (B) in the second sentence, by inserting 

15 ‘‘and subsection (k)(4)’’ after ‘‘subject to para16 graph (5)’’; and 

17 (2) in each of subsections (g), (i), (j), (k), (l), 

18 and (m), by striking ‘‘employee, or contractor’’ each 

19 place such term appears and inserting ‘‘employee, 

20 volunteer practitioner, or contractor’’. 

21 (b) APPLICABILITY; DEFINITION.—Section 224(k) of 

22 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 233(k)) is 

23 amended by adding at the end the following paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(4)(A) Subsections (g) through (m) apply with re25 spect to volunteer practitioners beginning with the first 
4

•S 1344 IS

1 fiscal year for which an appropriations Act provides that 

2 amounts in the fund under paragraph (2) are available 

3 with respect to such practitioners. 

4 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subsections (g) through (m), 

5 the term ‘volunteer practitioner’ means a practitioner who, 

6 with respect to an entity described in subsection (g)(4), 

7 meets the following conditions: 

8 ‘‘(i) The practitioner is a licensed physician or 

9 a licensed clinical psychologist. 

10 ‘‘(ii) At the request of such entity, the practi11 tioner provides services to patients of the entity, at 

12 a site at which the entity operates or at a site des13 ignated by the entity. The weekly number of hours 

14 of services provided to the patients by the practi15 tioner is not a factor with respect to meeting condi16 tions under this subparagraph. 

17 ‘‘(iii) The practitioner does not for the provision 

18 of such services receive any compensation from such 

19 patients, from the entity, or from third-party payors 

20 (including reimbursement under any insurance pol21 icy or health plan, or under any Federal or State 

22 health benefits program).’’. 

23 SEC. 4. STUDY ON ADEQUACY OF FUNDING FOR COVERAGE. 

24 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

25 States shall conduct a study concerning the adequacy of 
5

•S 1344 IS

1 funding for liability coverage through the program under 

2 section 224(g) of the Public Health Service Act (relating 

3 to the provisions of title 28, United States Code, that are 

4 commonly referred to as the Federal Tort Claims Act) (42 

5 U.S.C. 233(g)) for— 

6 (1) public or nonprofit private entities receiving 

7 Federal funds for health centers under section 330 

8 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 254b); and 

9 (2) volunteer practitioners serving such health 

10 centers. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

13 United States shall prepare and submit to the appropriate 

14 committees of Congress a report containing findings and 

15 recommendations from the study conducted under sub16 section (a), including recommendations concerning the 

17 adequacy of the funding described in subsection (a).

Æ