I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1457 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to deem certain geriatric health 
training to be obligated service for purposes of the National Health 
Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2009 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. 
KLEIN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to deem certain 
geriatric health training to be obligated service for pur-
poses of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repay-
ment Program, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Geriatrics Loan For-
giveness Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Between 2005 and 2030, it is estimated 
that the number of adults aged 65 and older will al-
most double from 37,000,000 to more than 
70,000,000, increasing from 12 percent of the popu-
lation of the United States to almost 20 percent of 
the population. 
(2) The number of the ‘‘oldest old,’’ those who 
are 85 and over, is also expected to nearly double, 
from 5,000,000 to 9,000,000 between 2005 and 
2030. 
(3) These ‘‘oldest old’’ adults have the highest 
per capita utilization of health care services, and 
their conditions are often complex with multiple co- 
morbidities. 
(4) The Institute of Medicine’s 2008 report, 
Retooling for an Aging America: Building the 
Health Care Workforce, emphasized that, because of 
the increasing numbers of frail older adults, there is 
an increasing need for geriatric specialist care and 
for geriatric specialists to train the entire health 
care workforce in geriatric principles. 
(5) Shortages in many health care professions 
are apparent already in the United States. Short-
ages of geriatric specialists are even more severe, 
with a decline in the number of geriatricians and 
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geriatric psychiatrists, and inadequate numbers of 
geriatric social workers, nurses, psychologists, and 
other health care professionals with geriatric exper-
tise. 
(6) There are numerous barriers for health care 
professionals interested in entering geriatric special-
ties, including the time required for additional train-
ing and financial disincentives. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS LOAN REPAY-
MENT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 338C of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254m) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) OBLIGATED SERVICE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the Loan 
Repayment Program under section 338B, each year 
during which an individual is enrolled and partici-
pating in an accredited (as determined by the Sec-
retary) educational program that provides geriatric 
health training shall be deemed to be a year of obli-
gated service. Upon the completion of such training, 
an individual with respect to whom a year of train-
ing is deemed to be a year of obligated service under 
this paragraph shall, after consultation with the Sec-
retary, provide geriatric health services during the 
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remainder of such individual’s period of obligated 
service. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The number of individuals 
for whom geriatric health training is deemed to be 
obligated service under this subsection shall not ex-
ceed 500 in any year.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply only to applications submitted 
to the Secretary of Health and Human Services under sec-
tion 338B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
254l–1) on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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