I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5602 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a Bio-Preparedness 
and Infectious Diseases Workforce Loan Repayment Program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 15, 2021 
Mrs. TRAHAN (for herself and Mr. MCKINLEY) 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 Bio- 
Preparedness and Infectious Diseases Workforce Loan 
Repayment Program. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bolstering Infectious 
Outbreaks Preparedness Workforce Act of 2021’’ or the 
‘‘BIO Preparedness Workforce Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A BIO-PREPAREDNESS AND IN-
FECTIOUS DISEASES WORKFORCE LOAN RE-
PAYMENT PROGRAM. 
Subpart 3 of part E of title VII of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295f et seq.) is amended by insert-
ing after section 776 (42 U.S.C. 295f–1) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 776A BIO-PREPAREDNESS AND INFECTIOUS DIS-
EASES WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT PRO-
GRAM. 
‘‘(a) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Secretary, 
acting 
through the Administrator of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration, shall establish the Bio-Prepared-
ness and Infectious Diseases Workforce Loan Repayment 
Program (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’) to 
ensure an adequate supply of health care professionals en-
gaged in bio-preparedness and response activities de-
scribed in subsection (c)(2)(A)(1) and health care profes-
sionals engaged in infectious diseases care described in 
subsection (c)(2)(A)(ii). 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to participate 
in the Program, an individual shall— 
‘‘(A)(i) be accepted for enrollment, or be 
enrolled, as a student in an accredited academic 
educational institution in a State or territory in 
the final year of a course of study or program 
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leading to a health professions degree or certifi-
cate described in paragraph (2); or 
‘‘(ii) have graduated, during the preceding 
10-year period, from an accredited educational 
institution in a State or territory and received 
a health professions degree or certificate de-
scribed in paragraph (2); 
‘‘(B) be a United States citizen; 
‘‘(C)(i) submit an application to the Sec-
retary to participate in the Program; and 
‘‘(ii) execute a written contract as required 
in subsection (c); and 
‘‘(D) not have received, for the same serv-
ice, a reduction of loan obligations under— 
‘‘(i) section 338B, 338I, 776, or 846; 
or 
‘‘(ii) section 428K or 428L of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965. 
‘‘(2) HEALTH PROFESSIONS DEGREE OR CER-
TIFICATE.—A health professions degree or certificate 
described in this paragraph is a degree or certificate 
for— 
‘‘(A) a doctor of medicine; 
‘‘(B) a doctor of osteopathic medicine; 
‘‘(C) a doctor of philosophy; 
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‘‘(D) a doctor of pharmacy; 
‘‘(E) certification as a registered nurse; 
‘‘(F) a bachelor of science in nursing; 
‘‘(G) a master of science in nursing; 
‘‘(H) certification as a nurse practitioner; 
‘‘(I) certification as a physician assistant; 
‘‘(J) a doctor of public health; 
‘‘(K) a master of public health; 
‘‘(L) a master of science in epidemiology; 
‘‘(M) a bachelor of science in medical tech-
nology; 
‘‘(N) certification in medical technology or 
as a medical lab scientist; 
‘‘(O) a doctor of dental surgery, doctor of 
medicine in dentistry, or doctor of dental medi-
cine; and 
‘‘(P) completion of any other program de-
termined appropriate by the Secretary. 
‘‘(c) CONTRACT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The written contract (re-
ferred to in this section as the ‘written contract’) be-
tween the Secretary and an individual shall con-
tain— 
‘‘(A) an agreement on the part of the Sec-
retary that the Secretary will repay on behalf of 
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‘‘(E) such other statements of the rights 
and liabilities of the Secretary and of the indi-
vidual, not inconsistent with this section. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ROLE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 
term ‘qualified role’ means either of the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(i) 
BIO-PREPAREDNESS
HEALTH 
CARE PROFESSIONAL.—A role in which the 
health care professional spends not less 
than 50 percent of their time engaged in 
bio-preparedness and response activities, 
including— 
‘‘(I) developing and updating re-
sponse, surge, and isolation capacity 
plans and protocols; 
‘‘(II) collaborating with State, 
local, and Tribal health departments 
on preparedness and response efforts; 
‘‘(III) training health care facil-
ity personnel in matters related to 
bio-preparedness; 
‘‘(IV) purchasing and managing 
equipment (such as personal protec-
tive equipment) for public health 
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emergencies, including those declared 
under section 319; 
‘‘(V) executing readiness assess-
ments for public health emergencies, 
including those declared under section 
319; 
‘‘(VI) repurposing areas of a 
health care facility to manage patient 
influx; 
‘‘(VII) communicating with the 
public regarding preventing or re-
sponding to public health emergencies, 
including those declared under section 
319; 
‘‘(VIII) performing infection pre-
vention and control and environmental 
disinfection; 
‘‘(IX) conducting epidemiologic 
surveillance and investigations; 
‘‘(X) developing and validating 
diagnostics for emerging pathogens; 
and 
‘‘(XI) conducting antimicrobial 
stewardship. 
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‘‘(ii) INFECTIOUS DISEASES HEALTH 
CARE
PROFESSIONAL.—A role (including 
through a fellowship) in which the health 
care professional spends not less than 50 
percent of their time engaging in infectious 
diseases care— 
‘‘(I) in a medically underserved 
community; 
‘‘(II) for a medically underserved 
population 
as 
defined 
in 
section 
330(b)(3); 
‘‘(III) at a Federally qualified 
health center or rural health clinic (as 
those terms are defined in section 
1861(aa) of the Social Security Act); 
‘‘(IV) at a health center receiving 
assistance under section 330; 
‘‘(V) at a Federal medical facil-
ity; 
‘‘(VI) in a health program, or at 
a facility operated, by an Indian Tribe 
or Tribal organization (as those terms 
are defined in section 4 of the Indian 
Self-Determination and Education As-
sistance Act) or by an urban Indian 
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organization as defined in section 4 of 
the Indian Health Care Improvement 
Act; 
‘‘(VII) in a health professional 
shortage area as designated under 
section 332; 
‘‘(VIII) at an entity receiving as-
sistance under title XXVI for the pro-
vision of clinical services; 
‘‘(IX) at a critical access hospital 
(as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of 
the Social Security Act); 
‘‘(X) in a frontier health profes-
sional shortage area; or 
‘‘(XI) at an accredited public 
academic educational institution in a 
State or territory or health care set-
ting affiliated with such an institu-
tion. 
‘‘(B) EMPLOYMENT
BY
PUBLIC
HEALTH 
AGENCY.—The term ‘qualified role’ does not in-
clude a role in which the health care profes-
sional is employed by a Federal, State, local, or 
Tribal public health agency or is in a related 
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training fellowship, as recognized by the Sec-
retary, excluding— 
‘‘(i) a role under clause (i) of subpara-
graph (A) in which the health care profes-
sional is employed at a medical facility de-
scribed in subclause (XI) of subparagraph 
(A)(ii); 
‘‘(ii) a role under clause (ii) of sub-
paragraph (A) in which the health care 
professional is employed at a medical facil-
ity described in subclause (V), (VI), or 
(XI) of subparagraph (A)(ii); or 
‘‘(iii) a role under clause (i) or (ii) of 
subparagraph (A) in which the health care 
professional is employed in any other set-
ting specified by the Secretary. 
‘‘(3) HEALTH
CARE
PROFESSIONAL.—In this 
section, the term ‘health care professional’ in-
cludes— 
‘‘(A) with respect to an individual in a role 
described in paragraph (2)(A)(i), an individual 
who is— 
‘‘(i) a physician; 
‘‘(ii) a clinical pharmacist; 
‘‘(iii) a physician assistant; 
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‘‘(iv) an advanced practice registered 
nurse; 
‘‘(v) an infection preventionist; or 
‘‘(vi) a clinical laboratory professional; 
or 
‘‘(B) with respect to an individual in a role 
described in paragraph (2)(A)(ii), an individual 
who is— 
‘‘(i) a physician; 
‘‘(ii) a clinical pharmacist; 
‘‘(iii) a physician assistant; 
‘‘(iv) a dentist; or 
‘‘(v) an advanced practice registered 
nurse. 
‘‘(d) PAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A loan repayment provided 
for an individual under a written contract under the 
Program shall consist of payment, in accordance 
with paragraph (2), on behalf of the individual of 
the principal, interest, and related expenses on gov-
ernment and commercial loans received by the indi-
vidual regarding the undergraduate or graduate edu-
cation of the individual (or both), which loans were 
made for tuition expenses incurred by the individual. 
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