II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2443 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for investment in 

tomorrow’s pediatric health care workforce. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 

Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) 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 

investment in tomorrow’s pediatric health care workforce. 

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 ‘‘Investment in Tomor5 row’s Pediatric Health Care Workforce Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTMENT IN TOMORROW’S PEDIATRIC HEALTH 

7 CARE WORKFORCE. 

8 Section 775 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 295f) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 775. INVESTMENT IN TOMORROW’S PEDIATRIC 

2 HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE. 

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

4 and carry out a program of entering into pediatric spe5 cialty loan repayment agreements with qualified health 

6 professionals under which— 

7 ‘‘(1) the qualified health professional agrees to 

8 a period of not less than 2 years of obligated service 

9 during which the professional will— 

10 ‘‘(A) participate in an accredited pediatric 

11 medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical spe12 cialty, child and adolescent psychiatry sub13 specialty, or child and adolescent mental and 

14 behavioral health residency or fellowship; or 

15 ‘‘(B) be employed full-time in providing pe16 diatric medical subspecialty care, pediatric sur17 gical specialty care, child and adolescent psychi18 atry subspecialty care, or child and adolescent 

19 mental and behavioral health care, including 

20 substance use disorder prevention and treat21 ment services, in an area with— 

22 ‘‘(i) a shortage of health care profes23 sionals practicing in the pediatric medical 

24 subspecialty, the pediatric surgical spe25 cialty, the child and adolescent psychiatry 

26 subspecialty, or child and adolescent menVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Sep 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2443.IS S2443

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1 tal and behavioral health, as applicable; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) a sufficient pediatric population, 

4 as determined by the Secretary, to support 

5 the addition of a practitioner in the pedi6 atric medical subspecialty, the pediatric 

7 surgical specialty, the child and adolescent 

8 psychiatry subspecialty, or child and ado9 lescent mental and behavioral health, as 

10 applicable; and 

11 ‘‘(2) the Secretary agrees to make payments on 

12 the principal and interest of undergraduate, grad13 uate, or graduate medical education loans of the 

14 qualified health professional of not more than 

15 $35,000 a year for each year of agreed upon service 

16 under paragraph (1) for a period of not more than 

17 3 years. 

18 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) PEDIATRIC MEDICAL SPECIALISTS AND PE20 DIATRIC SURGICAL SPECIALISTS.—For purposes of 

21 loan repayment agreements under this section with 

22 respect to pediatric medical subspecialty and pedi23 atric surgical specialty practitioners, the term ‘quali24 fied health professional’ means a licensed physician 

25 who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is entering or receiving training in an 

2 accredited pediatric medical subspecialty or pe3 diatric surgical subspecialty residency or fellow4 ship; or 

5 ‘‘(B) has completed (but not prior to the 

6 end of the calendar year in which the Invest7 ment in Tomorrow’s Pediatric Health Care 

8 Workforce Act is enacted) the training de9 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

10 ‘‘(2) CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY

11 AND MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.—For pur12 poses of loan repayment agreements under this sec13 tion with respect to child and adolescent mental and 

14 behavioral health care, the term ‘qualified health 

15 professional’ means a health care professional who— 

16 ‘‘(A) has received specialized training or 

17 clinical experience in child and adolescent men18 tal health in psychiatry, psychology, school psy19 chology, or psychiatric nursing; 

20 ‘‘(B) has a license or certification in a 

21 State to practice allopathic medicine, osteo22 pathic medicine, psychology, school psychology, 

23 or psychiatric nursing; or 

24 ‘‘(C) is a mental health service professional 

25 who has completed (but not before the end of 


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1 the calendar year in which the Investment in 

2 Tomorrow’s Pediatric Health Care Workforce 

3 Act is enacted) specialized training or clinical 

4 experience in child and adolescent mental health 

5 described in subparagraph (A). 

6 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIRE7 MENTS.—The Secretary may not enter into a loan 

8 repayment agreement under this section with a 

9 qualified health professional unless— 

10 ‘‘(A) the professional agrees to work in, or 

11 for a provider serving, an area or community 

12 with a shortage of eligible qualified health pro13 fessionals (as defined in paragraphs (1) and 

14 (2)); 

15 ‘‘(B) the professional is a United States 

16 citizen, a permanent legal United States resi17 dent, or lawfully present in the United States; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(C) if the professional is enrolled in a 

20 graduate program, the program is accredited, 

21 and the professional has an acceptable level of 

22 academic standing (as determined by the Sec23 retary). 


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1 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In entering into loan repayment 

2 agreements under this section, the Secretary shall give pri3 ority to applicants who— 

4 ‘‘(1) have familiarity with evidence-based meth5 ods and cultural and linguistic competence in health 

6 care services; and 

7 ‘‘(2) demonstrate financial need. 

8 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 

10 2020 through 2024— 

11 ‘‘(1) $30,000,000 to carry out this section with 

12 respect to loan repayment agreements with qualified 

13 health professionals described in subsection (b)(1); 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(2) $20,000,000 to carry out this section with 

16 respect to loan repayment agreements with respect 

17 to qualified health professionals described in sub18 section (b)(2).’’. 

Æ 


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