115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5102 

AN ACT 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 

loan repayment program for substance use disorder 

treatment employees, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Substance Use Dis3 order Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR SUBSTANCE USE 

5 DISORDER TREATMENT EMPLOYEES. 

6 Title VII of the Public Health Service Act is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) by redesignating part F as part G; and 

9 (2) by inserting after part E (42 U.S.C. 294n 

10 et seq.) the following: 

11 ‘‘PART F—SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER 

12 TREATMENT EMPLOYEES 

13 ‘‘SEC. 781. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR SUBSTANCE 

14 USE DISORDER TREATMENT EMPLOYEES. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

16 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 

17 Administration, shall carry out a program under which— 

18 ‘‘(1) the Secretary enters into agreements with 

19 individuals to make payments in accordance with 

20 subsection (b) on the principal of and interest on 

21 any eligible loan; and 

22 ‘‘(2) the individuals each agree to complete a 

23 period of service in a substance use disorder treat24 ment job, as described in subsection (d). 

25 ‘‘(b) PAYMENTS.—For each year of obligated service 

26 by an individual pursuant to an agreement under sub-
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1 section (a), the Secretary shall make a payment to such 

2 individual as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) SERVICE IN A SHORTAGE AREA.—The Sec4 retary shall pay— 

5 ‘‘(A) for each year of obligated service by 

6 an individual pursuant to an agreement under 

subsection (a), 1 7 ⁄6 of the principal of and inter8 est on each eligible loan of the individual which 

9 is outstanding on the date the individual began 

10 service pursuant to the agreement; and 

11 ‘‘(B) for completion of the sixth and final 

12 year of such service, the remainder of such 

13 principal and interest. 

14 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total amount of 

15 payments under this section to any individual shall 

16 not exceed $250,000. 

17 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE LOANS.—The loans eligible for repay18 ment under this section are each of the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Any loan for education or training for a 

20 substance use disorder treatment job. 

21 ‘‘(2) Any loan under part E of title VIII (relat22 ing to nursing student loans). 

23 ‘‘(3) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Fed24 eral Direct PLUS Loan, or Federal Direct Unsub25 sidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolida-
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1 tion Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of 

2 the Higher Education Act of 1965). 

3 ‘‘(4) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E 

4 of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

5 ‘‘(5) Any other Federal loan as determined ap6 propriate by the Secretary. 

7 ‘‘(d) PERIOD OF SERVICE.—The period of service re8 quired by an agreement under subsection (a) shall consist 

9 of up to 6 years of full-time employment, with no more 

10 than 1 year passing between any 2 years of covered em11 ployment, in a substance use disorder treatment job in the 

12 United States in— 

13 ‘‘(1) a Mental Health Professional Shortage 

14 Area, as designated under section 332; or 

15 ‘‘(2) a county (or a municipality, if not con16 tained within any county) where the mean drug 

17 overdose death rate per 100,000 people over the past 

18 3 years for which official data is available from the 

19 State, is higher than the most recent available na20 tional average overdose death rate per 100,000 peo21 ple, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control 

22 and Prevention. 

23 ‘‘(e) INELIGIBILITY FOR DOUBLE BENEFITS.—No 

24 borrower may, for the same service, receive a reduction 

25 of loan obligations or a loan repayment under both— 
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1 ‘‘(1) this subsection; and 

2 ‘‘(2) any Federally supported loan forgiveness 

3 program, including under section 338B, 338I, or 

4 846 of this Act, or section 428J, 428L, 455(m), or 

5 460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

6 ‘‘(f) BREACH.— 

7 ‘‘(1) LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FORMULA.—The 

8 Secretary may establish a liquidated damages for9 mula to be used in the event of a breach of an 

10 agreement entered into under subsection (a). 

11 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The failure by an individual 

12 to complete the full period of service obligated pur13 suant to such an agreement, taken alone, shall not 

14 constitute a breach of the agreement, so long as the 

15 individual completed in good faith the years of serv16 ice for which payments were made to the individual 

17 under this section. 

18 ‘‘(g) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—The Secretary— 

19 ‘‘(1) may establish such criteria and rules to 

20 carry out this section as the Secretary determines 

21 are needed and in addition to the criteria and rules 

22 specified in this section; and 

23 ‘‘(2) shall give notice to the committees speci24 fied in subsection (h) of any criteria and rules so es25 tablished. 
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1 ‘‘(h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 

2 after the date of enactment of the Substance Use Disorder 

3 Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2018, and every other 

4 year thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and submit 

5 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

6 of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Edu7 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on— 

8 ‘‘(1) the number and location of borrowers who 

9 have qualified for loan repayments under this sec10 tion; and 

11 ‘‘(2) the impact of this section on the avail12 ability of substance use disorder treatment employ13 ees nationally and in shortage areas and counties de14 scribed in subsection (d). 

15 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) The term ‘municipality’ means a city, 

17 town, or other public body created by or pursuant to 

18 State law, or an Indian Tribe. 

19 ‘‘(2) The term ‘substance use disorder treat20 ment job’ means a full-time job (including a fellow21 ship)— 

22 ‘‘(A) where the primary intent and func23 tion of the job is the direct treatment or recov24 ery support of patients with or in recovery from 

25 a substance use disorder, such as a physician, 
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1 physician assistant, registered nurse, nurse 

2 practitioner, advanced practice registered nurse, 

3 social worker, recovery coach, mental health 

4 counselor, addictions counselor, psychologist or 

5 other behavioral health professional, or any 

6 other relevant professional as determine by the 

7 Secretary; and 

8 ‘‘(B) which is located at a substance use 

9 disorder treatment program, private physician 

10 practice, hospital or health system-affiliated in11 patient treatment center or outpatient clinic 

12 (including an academic medical center-affiliated 

13 treatment program), correctional facility or pro14 gram, youth detention center or program, inpa15 tient psychiatric facility, crisis stabilization 

16 unit, community health center, community men17 tal health or other specialty community behav18 ioral health center, recovery center, school, com19 munity-based organization, telehealth platform, 

20 migrant health center, health program or facil21 ity operated by a tribe or tribal organization, 

22 Federal medical facility, or any other facility as 

23 determined appropriate for purposes of this sec24 tion by the Secretary. 
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1 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2028.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 12, 2018. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5102 

AN ACT 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorposes. disorder treatment employees, and for other pur- ize a loan repayment program for substance use