‘‘SEC. 781. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 
PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Pro-
gram (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’) to as-
sure an adequate supply of public health professionals to 
eliminate critical public health workforce shortages in 
Federal, State, local, and tribal public health agencies and 
in health centers. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 
the Program, an individual shall— 
‘‘(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be en-
rolled, as a full-time or part-time student in an ac-
credited academic educational institution in a State 
or territory in the final year of a course of study or 
program offered by that institution leading to a 
health professions degree or certificate, which may 
include a degree (graduate, undergraduate, or asso-
ciate) or certificate relating to public health, labora-
tory sciences, epidemiology, environmental health, 
health communications, health education and behav-
ioral sciences, information sciences, or public admin-
istration; or 
‘‘(B) have graduated, within 10 years, from an 
accredited educational institution in a State or terri-
tory and received a health professions degree (grad-
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uate, undergraduate, or associate) or certificate, 
which may include a degree (graduate, under-
graduate, or associate) or certificate relating to pub-
lic health, laboratory sciences, epidemiology, environ-
mental health, health communications, health edu-
cation and behavioral sciences, information sciences, 
or public administration; 
‘‘(2)(A) in the case of an individual described in 
paragraph (1)(A), have accepted employment with a 
Federal, State, local, or tribal public health agency 
or a health center, as recognized by the Secretary, 
to commence upon graduation; or 
‘‘(B) in the case of an individual described in 
paragraph (1)(B), be employed by, or have accepted 
employment with, a Federal, State, local, or tribal 
public health agency or a health center, as recog-
nized by the Secretary; 
‘‘(3) be a United States citizen; 
‘‘(4) submit an application to the Secretary to 
participate in the Program; and 
‘‘(5) sign and submit to the Secretary, at the 
time of the submission of such application, a written 
contract (described in subsection (d)) to serve for 
the applicable period of obligated service in the full- 
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time employment of a Federal, State, local, or tribal 
public health agency or a health center. 
‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATION
AND
CONTRACT
FORMS.— 
The Secretary shall disseminate application forms 
and contract forms to individuals desiring to partici-
pate in the Program. The Secretary shall include 
with such forms— 
‘‘(A) a fair summary of the rights and li-
abilities of an individual whose application is 
approved (and whose contract is accepted) by 
the Secretary, including in the summary a clear 
explanation of the damages to which the United 
States is entitled to recover in the case of the 
individual’s breach of the contract; and 
‘‘(B) information relating to the service ob-
ligation and such other information as may be 
necessary for the individual to understand the 
individual’s prospective participation in the Pro-
gram. 
‘‘(2) INFORMATION
FOR
SCHOOLS.—The Sec-
retary shall distribute to health professions schools 
and other appropriate accredited academic institu-
tions and relevant Federal, State, local, and tribal 
public health agencies and health centers, materials 
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providing information on the Program and shall en-
courage such schools, institutions, and agencies to 
disseminate such materials to potentially eligible stu-
dents. 
‘‘(3) UNDERSTANDABILITY AND TIMING.—The 
application form, contract form, and all other infor-
mation furnished by the Secretary under this section 
shall— 
‘‘(A) be written in a manner calculated to 
be understood by the average individual apply-
ing to participate in the Program; and 
‘‘(B) be made available by the Secretary on 
a date sufficiently early to ensure that such in-
dividuals have adequate time to carefully review 
and evaluate such forms and information. 
‘‘(d) CONTRACT.—The written contract (referred to 
in this section) between the Secretary and an individual 
shall contain— 
‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 
that the Secretary will repay on behalf of the indi-
vidual loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit 
of the relevant public health workforce educational 
degree or certificate in accordance with the terms of 
the contract; 
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‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 
that the individual will serve, immediately upon 
graduation in the case of an individual described in 
subsection (b)(1)(A) service, or in the case of an in-
dividual described in subsection (b)(1)(B) continue 
to serve, in the full-time employment of a Federal, 
State, local, or tribal public health agency or health 
center in a position related to the course of study or 
program for which the contract was awarded for a 
period of time (referred to in this section as the ‘pe-
riod of obligated service’) equal to the greater of— 
‘‘(A) 3 years; or 
‘‘(B) such longer period of time as deter-
mined appropriate by the Secretary and the in-
dividual; 
‘‘(3) an agreement, as appropriate, on the part 
of the individual to relocate for the entire period of 
obligated service to a political jurisdiction designated 
by the Secretary to be a priority service area in ex-
change for an additional loan repayment incentive 
amount that does not exceed 20 percent of the indi-
vidual’s eligible loan repayment award per academic 
year such that the total of the loan repayment and 
the incentive amount shall not exceed 1⁄3 of the eligi-
ble loan balance per year; 
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