I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 623 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the shortage of 

medical laboratory personnel. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2003 

Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, and Mr. BILIRAKIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 

the shortage of medical laboratory personnel. 

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 ‘‘Medical Laboratory 

5 Personnel Shortage Act of 2003’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE OF MEDICAL LABORA2 TORY PERSONNEL; PROGRAMS OF HEALTH 

3 RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRA4 TION. 

5 (a) SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REPAYMENT PRO6 GRAMS.—Section 737 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 293a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing subsection: 

9 ‘‘(e) SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REPAYMENT PRO10 GRAM FOR MEDICAL TECHNOLOGISTS, MEDICAL LABORA11 TORY TECHNICIANS, AND OTHER MEDICAL LABORATORY

12 PERSONNEL.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab14 lish a program of scholarships and loan repayment 

15 for the purpose of alleviating the shortage of medical 

16 laboratory personnel. The scholarship and loan re17 payment program shall include a period of obligated 

18 service for recipients in a designated health profes19 sional shortage area, or other area where there is a 

20 shortage of medical laboratory personnel. The Sec21 retary may model the program after the scholarship 

22 and loan repayment programs under sections 338A 

23 and 338B. 

24 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Schools of allied 

25 health, and health care institution-based programs 

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1 training medical laboratory personnel, are eligible to 

2 receive awards under paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 For the purpose of carrying out this subsection, 

5 there are authorized to be appropriated $11,193,000 

6 in fiscal year 2004, and such sums as may be nec7 essary for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 

8 2008. Such authorization is in addition to other au9 thorizations of appropriations that are available for 

10 such purpose.’’. 

11 (b) OTHER PROGRAMS UNDER TITLE VII.— 

12 (1) ALLIED HEALTH AND OTHER DIS13 CIPLINES.— 

14 (A) PREFERENCE IN MAKING AWARDS; 

15 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.—Section 

16 755 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

17 U.S.C. 294e)) is amended by adding at the end 

18 the following subsections: 

19 ‘‘(c) PREFERENCE IN MAKING AWARDS.—In making 

20 awards of grants and contracts under subsection (a), the 

21 Secretary shall give preference to making awards to assist 

22 entities in meeting the costs associated with expanding or 

23 establishing programs that will increase the number of in24 dividuals trained as medical laboratory personnel. 

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1 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.—The Sec2 retary shall develop and issue public service announce3 ments that advertise and promote medical laboratory per4 sonnel careers, highlight the advantages and rewards of 

5 medical laboratory personnel careers, and encourage indi6 viduals to enter medical laboratory personnel careers.’’. 

7 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.—Section 757 of the Public Health Serv9 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 294g(a)) is amended by add10 ing at the end the following subsection: 

11 ‘‘(d) ALLIED HEALTH AND OTHER DISCIPLINES.— 

12 For the purpose of carrying out section 755, there are au13 thorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal year 

14 2004, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

15 fiscal years 2005 through 2008. Such authorization is in 

16 addition to the authorizations of appropriations under 

17 subsection (a) that are available for such purpose.’’. 

18 (2) OTHER TITLE VII PROGRAMS.—Section 740 

19 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293d) 

20 is amended— 

21 (A) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub22 section (e); and 

23 (B) by inserting after subsection (c) the 

24 following subsection: 

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1 ‘‘(d) MEDICAL LABORATORY PERSONNEL.—For the 

2 purpose of increasing the number of individuals trained 

3 as medical laboratory personnel through making awards 

4 of grants or contracts under sections 737 through 739 for 

5 appropriate schools of allied health, there are authorized 

6 to be appropriated, in addition to authorizations of appro7 priations under subsections (a) through (c) that are avail8 able for such purpose, the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) For awards under section 738 to serve as 

10 members of the faculty of such schools, $332,500 for 

11 fiscal year 2004, and such sums as may be nec12 essary for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 

13 2008. 

14 ‘‘(2) For awards under section 739 to such 

15 schools, $8,200,000 for fiscal year 2004, and such 

16 sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal 

17 years 2005 through 2008.’’. 

18 (3) DEFINITION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY

19 PERSONNEL.—Section 799B of the Public Health 

20 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p) is amended by adding 

21 at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(12) The term ‘medical laboratory personnel’ 

23 means allied health professionals (as defined in 

24 paragraph (5)) who are medical technologists, 

25 cytotechnologists, histotechnologists, phlebotomists, 

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1 or medical laboratory technicians, or who are in 

2 other fields that, within the meaning of section 

3 353(a) (relating to the certification of clinical lab4 oratories), examine materials derived from the 

5 human body for the purpose of providing informa6 tion for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of 

7 any disease or impairment of, or the assessment of 

8 the health of, human beings.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE OF MEDICAL LABORA10 TORY PERSONNEL; PROGRAMS OF CENTERS 

11 FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION. 

12 Title XV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 300k et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1509 

14 the following section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 1509A. SHORTAGE OF TECHNOLOGISTS FOR LABORA16 TORY ANALYSIS REGARDING SCREENING FOR 

17 CERVICAL CANCER. 

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

19 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 

20 Administration and in collaboration with the Director of 

21 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall 

22 make grants to appropriate public and nonprofit private 

23 entities to provide training to increase the number of 

24 cytotechnologists who are available with respect to screen25 ing women for cervical cancer. 

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1 ‘‘(b) FUNDING.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

3 for the purpose of carrying out this section, there 

4 are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for 

5 fiscal year 2004, and such sums as may be nec6 essary for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 

7 2008. 

8 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The authorization of appro9 priations established in paragraph (1) is not effec10 tive for a fiscal year unless the amount appropriated 

11 under section 1510(a) for the fiscal year is equal to 

12 or greater than $173,928,000.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE OF MEDICAL LABORA14 TORY PERSONNEL; PROGRAMS OF NATIONAL 

15 HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE. 

16 Section 422(c)(3)(C) of the Public Health Service Act 

17 (42 U.S.C. 285b–4(c)(3)(C)) is amended by inserting 

18 after ‘‘allied health professionals’’ the following: ‘‘, with 

19 emphasis given in the training of such professionals to the 

20 training of medical laboratory personnel (as defined in sec21 tion 799B) in medical laboratory disciplines with respect 

22 to which there are needs for increased numbers of per23 sonnel’’. 

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