II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1864

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit to

primary health providers who establish practices in health professional

shortage areas.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 4, 1999

Mr. BURNS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide

a tax credit to primary health providers who establish

practices in health professional shortage areas.

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 Care Access

5 Improvement Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NONREFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR CERTAIN PRIMARY

2 HEALTH SERVICES PROVIDERS SERVING

3 HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE AREAS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub5 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of

6 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is

7 amended by inserting after section 25A the following new

8 section:

9 ‘‘SEC. 25B. PRIMARY HEALTH SERVICES PROVIDERS SERV10 ING HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE

11 AREAS.

12 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an in13 dividual who is a qualified primary health services provider

14 for any month during the taxable year, there shall be al15 lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter

16 for such taxable year an amount equal to $1,000 for each

17 month during such taxable year—

18 ‘‘(1) which is part of the eligible service period

19 of such individual, and

20 ‘‘(2) for which such individual is a qualified pri21 mary health services provider.

22 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED PRIMARY HEALTH SERVICES PRO23 VIDER.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified

24 primary health services provider’ means, with respect to

25 any month, any physician, physician assistant, or nurse

26 practitioner, who is certified for such month by the Bu-
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1 reau to be a primary health services provider or a licensed

2 mental health provider who—

3 ‘‘(1) is providing primary health services full

4 time and substantially all of whose primary health

5 services are provided in a health professional short6 age area,

7 ‘‘(2) is not receiving during the calendar year

8 which includes such month a scholarship under the

9 National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program

10 or the Indian health professions scholarship program

11 or a loan repayment under the National Health

12 Service Corps Loan Repayment Program or the In13 dian Health Service Loan Repayment Program,

14 ‘‘(3) is not fulfilling service obligations under

15 such Programs, and

16 ‘‘(4) has not defaulted on such obligations.

17 Such term shall not include any individual who is de18 scribed in paragraph (1) with respect to any of the 3 most

19 recent months ending before the date of the enactment

20 of this section.

21 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE SERVICE PERIOD.—For purposes of

22 this section, the term ‘eligible service period’ means the

23 period of 60 consecutive calendar months beginning with

24 the first month the taxpayer is a qualified primary health

25 services provider.
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1 ‘‘(d) OTHER DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULE.—For

2 purposes of this section—

3 ‘‘(1) BUREAU.—The term ‘Bureau’ means the

4 Bureau of Health Care Delivery and Assistance,

5 Health Resources and Services Administration of the

6 United States Public Health Service.

7 ‘‘(2) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ has the

8 meaning given to such term by section 1861(r) of

9 the Social Security Act.

10 ‘‘(3) PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT.—The term ‘physi11 cian assistant’ has the meaning given to such term

12 by section 1861(aa)(5)(A) of such Act.

13 ‘‘(4) NURSE PRACTITIONER.—The term ‘nurse

14 practitioner’ has the meaning given to such term by

15 section 1861(aa)(5)(A) of such Act.

16 ‘‘(5) PRIMARY HEALTH SERVICES PROVIDER.—

17 The term ‘primary health services provider’ means a

18 provider of basic health services (as described in sec19 tion 330(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Public Health Service

20 Act).

21 ‘‘(6) HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE

22 AREA.—The term ‘health professional shortage area’

23 means any area which, as of the beginning of the eli24 gible service period, is a health professional shortage

25 area (as defined in section 332(a)(1) of the Public
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1 Health Service Act) taking into account only the cat2 egory of health services provided by the qualified pri3 mary health services provider.

4 ‘‘(7) ONLY 60 MONTHS TAKEN INTO AC5 COUNT.—In no event shall more than 60 months be

6 taken into account under subsection (a) by any indi7 vidual for all taxable years.’’

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

9 for subpart A of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1

10 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in11 serting after the item relating to section 25A the following

12 new item:

‘‘Sec. 25B. Primary health services providers serving health professional shortage areas.’’.

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

14 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

15 December 31, 1999.

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