I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2173
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to health professions
programs regarding the practice of pharmacy.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 14, 2001
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr.
ROSS, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. SHOWS, Ms. MCKINNEY,
and Mr. LANGEVIN) 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
health professions programs regarding the practice of
pharmacy.
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 ‘‘Pharmacy Education
Aid Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Pharmacists are an important link in our
Nation’s health care system. A critical shortage of
pharmacists is threatening the ability of community
pharmacies to continue to provide important pre-
scription related services.
(2) The Institute of Medicine (‘‘IOM’’) pre-
pared a landmark report on medical errors, includ-
ing medication errors. In the report, entitled ‘‘To
Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System’’,
IOM indicated that medication errors can be par-
tially attributed to factors such as staff shortages;
having too many customers places great pressure on
available staff, leading to a lack of concentration.
(3) In section 5 of Public Law 106–129, the
Congress acknowledged a growing demand for phar-
macists by requiring the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to conduct a study to determine
whether there is a shortage of pharmacists in the
United States and, if so, to what extent.
(4) The study required by Public Law 106–129
was conducted by the Health Resources and Services
Administration (‘‘HRSA’’). The report from the
study was submitted to the Congress in December
2000, and is entitled ‘‘The Pharmacist Workforce: A
Study in Supply and Demand for Pharmacists’’.
(5) The findings described in the HRSA report
include the following:
(A) ‘‘While the overall supply of phar-
macists has increased in the past decade, there
has been an unprecedented demand for phar-
macists and for pharmaceutical care services,
which has not been met by the currently avail-
able supply.’’
(B) The ‘‘evidence clearly indicates the
emergence of a shortage of pharmacists over
the past two years.’’
(C) ‘‘The factors causing the current
shortage are of a nature not likely to abate in
the near future without fundamental changes in
pharmacy practice and education.’’
(6) In the report, HRSA projects that the num-
ber of prescriptions filled by community pharmacists
will increase 20 percent by 2004. In contrast, the
number of community pharmacists is expected to in-
crease only 6 percent by 2005.
(7) The demand for pharmacists will increase
as prescription drug use continues to grow.
(8) The Federal Government has a role and the
responsibility, through programs such as the Na-
tional Health Service Corps and programs under
title VII of the Public Health Service Act, to ensure
access to pharmacists services. Although the statu-
tory provisions for the program for the National
Health Service Corps expressly reference physicians,
dentists, certified nurse midwives, certified nurse
practitioners, and physician assistants, there is no
statutory reference to pharmacists. The National
Health Service Corps statute should provide for the
significant participation of pharmacists.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF PRACTICE OF PHARMACY IN PRO-
GRAM 
FOR 
NATIONAL 
HEALTH 
SERVICE
CORPS.
(a) 
INCLUSION
IN
CORPS
MISSION.—Section
331(a)(3) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
254d(a)(3)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (D), by adding at the end
the following: ‘‘Such term includes pharmacist serv-
ices.’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(E)(i) The term ‘pharmacist services’ in-
cludes medication therapy management services.
‘‘(ii) The term ‘medication therapy man-
agement services’, with respect to pharmacist
services, includes services to assure that medi-
cations are used appropriately by patients; to
enhance patients’ understanding of the appro-
priate use of medications; to increase patients’
adherence to prescription medication regimens;
to reduce the risk of adverse events associated
with medications; and to reduce the need for
other costly medical services through better
management of medication therapy. Such serv-
ices may include case management, disease
management, drug therapy management, pa-
tient training and education, counseling, drug
therapy problem resolution, medication adminis-
tration, the provision of special packaging, or
other services that enhance the use of prescrip-
tion medications.’’.
(b) SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.—Section 338A(a)(1) of
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254l(a)(1)) is
amended by inserting ‘‘pharmacists,’’ after ‘‘physicians,’’.
(c) 
LOAN
REPAYMENT
PROGRAM.—Section
338B(a)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
254l–1(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘pharmacists,’’
after ‘‘physicians,’’.
(d) FUNDING.—Section 338H(b)(2) of the Public
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254q(b)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting before the
period the following: ‘‘, which may include such con-
tracts for individuals who are in a course of study
or program leading to a pharmacy degree’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following subpara-
graph:
‘‘(C) 
SCHOLARSHIPS
FOR
FIRST-YEAR
STUDY IN PHARMACY.—Of the amounts appro-
priated under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year,
the Secretary shall obligate not less than 10
percent for the purpose of providing contracts
for scholarships under this subpart to individ-
uals who are entering the first year of study in
a course of study or program leading to a phar-
macy degree. Amounts obligated under this sub-
paragraph shall be in addition to amounts obli-
gated under subparagraph (A).’’.
SEC. 4. CERTAIN HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAMS RE-
GARDING PRACTICE OF PHARMACY.
Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act
(42 U.S.C. 294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following subpart:
‘‘Subpart 3—Certain Workforce Programs
‘‘SEC. 771. PRACTICING-PHARMACIST WORKFORCE.
‘‘(a) RECRUITING AND RETAINING STUDENTS AND
FACULTY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make
awards of grants or contracts to qualifying schools
of pharmacy (as defined in subsection (f)) for the
purpose of carrying out programs for recruiting and
retaining students and teaching faculty for such
schools, including programs to provide scholarships
for attendance at such schools to full-time students
who have financial need for the scholarships and
who demonstrate a commitment to becoming prac-
ticing pharmacists or faculty regarding the practice
of pharmacy.
‘‘(2) PREFERENCE
IN
PROVIDING
SCHOLAR-
SHIPS.—An award may not be made under para-
graph (1) unless the qualifying school of pharmacy
involved agrees that, in providing scholarships pur-
suant to the award, the school will give preference
to students for whom the costs of attending the
school would constitute a severe financial hardship.
‘‘(b) LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM REGARDING FAC-
ULTY POSITIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may estab-
lish a program of entering into contracts with indi-
viduals described in paragraph (2) under which the
individuals agree to serve as members of the fac-
ulties of qualifying schools of pharmacy in consider-
ation of the Federal Government agreeing to pay,
for each year of such service, not more than $20,000
of the principal and interest of the educational loans
of such individuals.
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—The individuals
referred to in paragraph (1) are individuals who—
‘‘(A) have a doctoral degree in pharmacy
or the pharmaceutical sciences; or
‘‘(B) are enrolled in a school of pharmacy
and are in the final academic year of such
school in a program leading to such a doctoral
degree.
‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING FACULTY PO-
SITIONS.—The Secretary may not enter into a con-
tract under paragraph (1) unless—
‘‘(A) the individual involved has entered
into a contract with a qualifying school of phar-
macy to serve as a member of the faculty of the
school for not less than 2 years;
‘‘(B) the contract referred to in subpara-
graph (A) provides that, in serving as a mem-
ber of the faculty pursuant to such subpara-
graph, the individual will—
‘‘(i) serve full time; or
‘‘(ii) serve as a member of the adjunct
clinical faculty and in so serving will ac-
tively supervise pharmacy students for 25
academic weeks per year (or such greater
number of academic weeks as may be spec-
ified in the contract); and
‘‘(C) such contract provides that—
‘‘(i) the school will, for each year for
which the individual will serve as a mem-
ber of the faculty under the contract with
the school, make payments of the principal
and interest due on the educational loans
of the individual for such year in an
amount equal to the amount of such pay-
ments made by the Secretary for the year;
‘‘(ii) the payments made by the school
pursuant to clause (i) on behalf of the indi-
vidual will be in addition to the pay that
the individual would otherwise receive for
serving as a member of such faculty; and
‘‘(iii) the school, in making a deter-
mination of the amount of compensation to
be provided by the school to the individual
for serving as a member of the faculty, will
make the determination without regard to
the amount of payments made (or to be
made) to the individual by the Federal
Government under paragraph (1).
‘‘(4) 
APPLICABILITY
OF
CERTAIN
PROVI-
SIONS.—The provisions of sections 338C, 338G, and
338I shall apply to the program established in para-
graph (1) to the same extent and in the same man-
ner as such provisions apply to the National Health
Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established
in subpart III of part D of title III, including the
applicability of provisions regarding reimbursements
for increased tax liability and provisions regarding
bankruptcy.
‘‘(5) WAIVER REGARDING SCHOOL CONTRIBU-
TIONS.—The Secretary may waive the requirement
established in paragraph (3)(C) if the Secretary de-
termines that the requirement will impose an undue
financial hardship on the school involved.
‘‘(c) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—The Secretary
may make awards of grants or contracts to qualifying
schools of pharmacy for the purpose of assisting such
schools in acquiring and installing computer-based sys-
tems to provide pharmaceutical education. Education pro-
vided through such systems may be graduate education,
professional education, or continuing education. The com-
puter-based systems may be designed to provide on-site
education, or education at remote sites (commonly re-
ferred to as distance learning), or both.
‘‘(d) FACILITIES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make
awards of grants or contracts to qualifying schools
of pharmacy for construction projects to expand, re-
model, renovate, or alter existing facilities for such
schools or to provide new facilities for the schools.
‘‘(2) 
CERTAIN
RESTRICTIONS.—An 
award
under paragraph (1) may not be expended for the
costs of acquiring land or for off-site improvements.
‘‘(3) RECAPTURE
OF
PAYMENTS.—If, during
the 20-year period beginning on the date of the com-
pletion of construction pursuant to paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) the school of pharmacy involved, or
other owner of the facility, ceases to be a public
or nonprofit private entity; or
‘‘(B) the facility involved ceases to be used
for the purposes for which it was constructed
(unless the Secretary determines, in accordance
with regulations, that there is good cause for
releasing the school or other owner from such
obligation);
the United States is entitled to recover from the
school or other owner of the facility the amount
bearing the same ratio to the current value (as de-
termined by an agreement between the parties or by
action brought in the United States District Court
for the district in which such facility is situated) of
the facility as the amount of the Federal participa-
tion bore to the cost of the construction of such fa-
cility.
‘‘(e) REQUIREMENT
REGARDING
EDUCATION
IN
PRACTICE OF PHARMACY.—With respect to the qualifying
school of pharmacy involved, the Secretary shall ensure
that programs and activities carried out with Federal
funds provided under this section have the goal of edu-
cating students to become licensed pharmacists, or the
goal of providing for faculty to educate students to become
licensed pharmacists.
‘‘(f) QUALIFYING SCHOOL OF PHARMACY.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘qualifying school of phar-
macy’ means a school of pharmacy (as defined in section
799B) that, in providing clinical experience for students,
requires that the students serve in a clinical rotation in
which pharmacist services (as defined in section
331(a)(3)(E)) are provided at or for—
‘‘(1) a medical facility that serves a substantial
number of individuals who reside in or are members
of a medically underserved community (as so de-
fined);
‘‘(2) an entity described in any of subpara-
graphs (A) through (L) of section 340B(a)(4) (relat-
ing to the definition of covered entity);
‘‘(3) a health care facility of the Department of
Veterans Affairs or of any of the Armed Forces of
the United States;
‘‘(4) a health care facility of the Bureau of
Prisons;
‘‘(5) a health care facility operated by, or with
funds received from, the Indian Health Service; or
‘‘(6) a disproportionate share hospital under
section 1923 of the Social Security Act.
‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for
each of the fiscal years 2002 through 2006.’’.
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