I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1411 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a Primary and Public 

Health Scholarship Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2009 

Mr. MCDERMOTT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a 

Primary and Public Health Scholarship 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 ‘‘United States Primary 

5 and Preventive Health Care Corps Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRIMARY AND PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOLARSHIP PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subpart 3—Primary and Public Health Scholarship 

2 Program 

3 ‘‘SEC. 775. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

5 and carry out the Primary and Public Health Scholarship 

6 Program (in this section referred to as the ‘Scholarship 

7 Program’) under which the Secretary shall enter into con8 tracts with all eligible individuals in accordance with this 

9 section. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 

11 the Scholarship Program, an individual must— 

12 ‘‘(1) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, 

13 as a full-time student— 

14 ‘‘(A) in an accredited (as determined by 

15 the Secretary) institution of higher education 

16 that is a public graduate medical school in a 

17 State that is funded by such State; and 

18 ‘‘(B) in a course of study or program, of19 fered by such institution and approved by the 

20 Secretary, leading to a degree in medicine, os21 teopathic medicine, dentistry, or other health 

22 profession, or an appropriate degree from a 

23 graduate program of behavioral and mental 

24 health; 


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1 ‘‘(2) submit an application to participate in the 

2 Scholarship Program in such form and manner and 

3 at such time as specified by the Secretary; and 

4 ‘‘(3) sign and submit to the Secretary, at the 

5 time of submittal of such application, a written con6 tract (described in subsection (d)) to accept payment 

7 of a scholarship and to serve (in accordance with 

8 this section) for a period of not less than 4 years at 

9 a health care facility that serves a designated pri10 mary care or public health shortage area located in 

11 the State in which the institution is located. 

12 ‘‘(c) PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An individual becomes a 

14 participant in the Scholarship Program only upon 

15 the approval of the Secretary of the individual’s ap16 plication submitted under subsection (b)(2) and the 

17 Secretary’s acceptance of the contract submitted by 

18 the individual under subsection (b)(3). 

19 ‘‘(2) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide 

20 written notice to an individual promptly upon the 

21 Secretary’s approving, under paragraph (1), of the 

22 individual’s participation in the Scholarship Pro23 gram. 


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1 ‘‘(d) CONTRACT.—The contract described in this sub2 section is a written contract between the Secretary and 

3 an individual that contains— 

4 ‘‘(1) an agreement that— 

5 ‘‘(A) subject to paragraph (2), the Sec6 retary agrees to provide the individual with a 

7 scholarship (described in subsection (e)) for 

8 each such school year during the period of years 

9 (not to exceed four school years), during which 

10 the individual is pursuing a course of study de11 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(B); and 

12 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2), the indi13 vidual agrees— 

14 ‘‘(i) to accept provision of such a 

15 scholarship to the individual; 

16 ‘‘(ii) to maintain enrollment in a 

17 course of study described in subsection 

18 (b)(1)(B) until the individual completes the 

19 course of study; 

20 ‘‘(iii) while enrolled in such course of 

21 study, to maintain an acceptable level of 

22 academic standing (as determined under 

23 regulations of the Secretary by the edu24 cational institution offering such course of 

25 study); and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) to serve as a health professional 

2 for a period of full-time service of not less 

3 than 4 years at a health care facility serv4 ing an area— 

5 ‘‘(I) that is located in the State 

6 in which the individual attended the 

7 institution of higher education de8 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A); and 

9 ‘‘(II) that is designated by the 

10 Secretary, in consultation with the 

11 Governor of such State, as being a 

12 primary care or public health shortage 

13 area; 

14 ‘‘(2) a provision that any financial obligation of 

15 the United States arising out of a contract entered 

16 into under this section and any obligation of the in17 dividual which is conditioned thereon, is contingent 

18 upon funds being appropriated for scholarships 

19 under this section; 

20 ‘‘(3) a statement of the damages to which the 

21 United States is entitled, under subsection (f) for 

22 the individual’s breach of the contract; and 

23 ‘‘(4) such other statements of the rights and li24 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual, not 

25 inconsistent with the provisions of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(e) SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subparagraph 

3 (3), a scholarship provided to a student for a school 

4 year under a written contract under the Scholarship 

5 Program shall consist of payment to, or (in accord6 ance with paragraph (2)) on behalf of, the student 

7 of the amount of the tuition of the student in such 

8 school year. 

9 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS TO SCHOOLS.—The Secretary 

10 may contract with an institution of higher education 

11 described in subsection (b)(1)(A), in which a partici12 pant in the Scholarship Program is enrolled, for the 

13 payment to the educational institution of the 

14 amounts of tuition and other reasonable educational 

15 expenses described in paragraph (1). Payment to 

16 such an educational institution may be made without 

17 regard to section 3648 of the Revised Statutes (31 

18 U.S.C. 529). 

19 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON REVENUE INCREASE.—In 

20 no case shall the Secretary provide a scholarship 

21 under this section with respect to a student for a 

22 school year for an institution of higher education de23 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A) if the percentage of 

24 revenues of the institution that such institution re25 ceives from tuition for the year (taking into account 


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1 the provision of this section) would increase by more 

2 than 3 percentage points from the year prior to the 

3 date of the enactment of this section. 

4 ‘‘(f) BREACH OF SCHOLARSHIP.— 

5 ‘‘(1) FAILURE TO COMPLETE COURSE OF

6 STUDY.—An individual who has entered into a writ7 ten contract with the Secretary under this section 

8 and who— 

9 ‘‘(A) fails to maintain an acceptable level 

10 of academic standing in the institution of high11 er education described in subsection (b)(1)(A) 

12 in which he is enrolled (such level determined 

13 by the institution under regulations of the Sec14 retary); 

15 ‘‘(B) is dismissed from such institution for 

16 disciplinary reasons; or 

17 ‘‘(C) voluntarily terminates the training in 

18 such an institution for which he is provided a 

19 scholarship under such contract, before the 

20 completion of such training, 

21 in lieu of any service obligation arising under such 

22 contract, shall be liable to the United States for the 

23 amount that is equal to the sum of the total amount 

24 which has been paid to the individual, or on the beVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:39 Mar 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1411.IH H1411

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1 half of the individual, under the contract plus any 

2 amount of interest, as determined by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLETE SERVICE OBLIGA4 TION.—If an individual breaches his written contract 

5 by failing to begin such individual’s service obliga6 tion under this section, or to complete such service 

7 obligation, the United States shall be entitled to re8 cover from the individual an amount that is equal to 

9 the sum of— 

10 ‘‘(A) the total amount which has been paid 

11 to the individual, or on his behalf of the indi12 vidual, under the contract; 

13 ‘‘(B) any amount of interest, as deter14 mined by the Secretary; and 

15 ‘‘(C) the amount that is equal to 10 per16 cent of the amount described in subparagraph 

17 (A). 

18 ‘‘(g) DESIGNATED PRIMARY CARE OR PUBLIC

19 HEALTH SHORTAGE AREA.—For purposes of this section, 

20 the term ‘designated primary care or public health short21 age area’ means, with respect to a State, an area des22 ignated by the Secretary, in consultation with the Gov23 ernor of the State, as being without sufficient practicing 

24 primary care physicians to ensure access to primary care, 

25 public health care services, and preventive care. 


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1 ‘‘(h) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS.—The 

2 provisions of subpart III of part D of title III shall, except 

3 as inconsistent with this section, apply to the program es4 tablished under this section in the same manner and to 

5 the same extent as such provisions apply to the National 

6 Health Service Corps Scholarship Program established 

7 under such subpart.’’. 

Æ 


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