II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1868

To authorize a 3-year demonstration program to recruit and train physicians 

to serve in rural settings. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2003

Mr. CRAIG (for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. ENZI, Mr. 

BURNS, and Mr. BAUCUS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL

To authorize a 3-year demonstration program to recruit and 

train physicians to serve in rural settings.

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 ‘‘Rural Health Training 

5 Incentive Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WWAMI DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

7 (a) GRANT AUTHORIZED.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

9 Human Services (in this section referred to as the 
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1 ‘‘Secretary’’) is authorized to award a grant to the 

2 Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho 

3 joint medical school (in this section referred to as 

4 ‘‘WWAMI’’) to strengthen and expand programs to 

5 encourage more health professionals to practice in 

6 rural areas. 

7 (2) DURATION.—The Secretary shall award the 

8 grant described in paragraph (1) for a period of 3 

9 years. 

10 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—The grant awarded pursuant 

11 to subsection (a) may be used for activities including—

12 (1) developing new mechanisms for recruiting 

13 and mentoring rural youth with respect to all health 

14 professions; 

15 (2) strengthening and stabilizing the system of 

16 training for the family physicians needed in rural 

17 areas; and 

18 (3) expanding the network of rural training 

19 tracks throughout WWAMI. 

20 (c) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

22 after the end of the grant period described in sub23 section (a)(2), WWAMI shall—

24 (A) evaluate the results of the programs 

25 assisted under this section; and 
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•S 1868 IS 

1 (B) submit to the Secretary a report re2 garding such evaluation. 

3 (2) EVALUATION.—

4 (A) CONTRACT.—The evaluation described 

5 in paragraph (1) shall be carried out through a 

6 contract with an entity having experience with 

7 assessing workforce issues in the region of the 

8 WWAMI. 

9 (B) MATTERS EVALUATED.—The evalua10 tion shall—

11 (i) assess the effectiveness of the 

12 funds made available under this section in 

13 attracting, placing, and retaining physi14 cians in rural communities; 

15 (ii) include an assessment of baseline 

16 rural primary care provider availability, 

17 track participants in the programs assisted 

18 under this section, and quantify the out19 come impact of the funds made available 

20 under this section; 

21 (iii) address the multiyear grant pe22 riod; and 

23 (iv) use existing data bases, a track24 ing registry, focus groups, and periodic 
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1 surveys to assess the effectiveness of the 

2 programs; and 

3 (v) address whether the programs 

4 should be expanded under section 3. 

5 (3) REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS.—The report 

6 described in paragraph (1) shall include rec7 ommendations regarding—

8 (A) the effectiveness of the programs as9 sisted under this section; and 

10 (B) project expansion under section 3. 

11 SEC. 3. PROJECT EXPANSION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—After submission of the report re13 quired under section 2(c), the Secretary is authorized to 

14 award grants to eligible entities to expand the programs 

15 assisted under section 2, and to implement the rec16 ommendations made in such report, in other geographic 

17 areas. 

18 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—As used in this 

19 section, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a partnership be20 tween—

21 (1) a regional university or college; and 

22 (2) the medical school associated with such uni23 versity or college that has a rural area training track 

24 of at least 2 months. 
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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated to carry out subsections (a) and (b) of section 2, 

4 $3,400,000 for fiscal year 2005, $4,100,000 for fiscal year 

5 2006 and $4,800,000 for fiscal year 2007. 

6 (b) REPORT AND EVALUATION.—There are author7 ized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (c) of sec8 tion 2, $100,000 for fiscal year 2005, $100,000 for fiscal 

9 year 2006, and $300,000 for fiscal year 2007. 

10 (c) PROJECT EXPANSION.—There are authorized to 

11 be appropriated to carry out section 3, such sums as may 

12 be necessary for fiscal year 2007 and each succeeding fis13 cal year.

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