providing primary and preventive health care serv-
ices to over 15,000,000 low-income, underinsured, 
and uninsured families. 
(2) Nearly 70 percent of CHC patients have 
family incomes at or below poverty ($15,000 annual 
income for a family of three). In addition, nearly 40 
percent of CHC patients are uninsured. 
(3) For many patients, CHCs are the only 
source of health care services available. While the 
number of uninsured patients at CHCs is rapidly 
growing—from around 3,900,000 in 1998 to over 
5,900,000 today—the number of physicians available 
to treat these patients is decreasing. 
(4) There is a critical shortage of physicians 
available at CHCs to meet the health care needs of 
the uninsured and underinsured. The Journal of the 
American Medical Association reports a 13-percent 
vacancy rate for family physicians, a 9-percent va-
cancy rate for internists, a 20-percent vacancy rate 
for OB–GYNs and a 22-percent vacancy rate for 
psychiatrists. 
(5) Physicians hired by CHCs are covered by 
the Federal Tort Claims Act for medical liability 
costs. However, physicians who wish to volunteer at 
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CHCs are not covered by the Federal Tort Claims 
Act. 
(6) CHCs have limited resources to meet the 
current and future needs of the uninsured and 
underinsured. Physicians are willing to volunteer at 
CHCs, however, they are dissuaded from doing so 
because of the cost of medical liability insurance. 
Extending Federal Tort Claims Act coverage to vol-
unteer physicians would result in more patients 
being served at a lower cost at CHCs. 
SEC. 3. HEALTH CENTERS UNDER PUBLIC HEALTH SERV-
ICE ACT; LIABILITY PROTECTIONS FOR VOL-
UNTEER PRACTITIONERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 224 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 233) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (g)(1)(A)— 
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘or 
employee’’ and inserting ‘‘employee, or (subject 
to subsection (k)(4)) volunteer practitioner’’; 
and 
(B) in the second sentence, by inserting 
‘‘and subsection (k)(4)’’ after ‘‘subject to para-
graph (5)’’; and 
(2) in each of subsections (g), (i), (j), (k), (l), 
and (m)— 
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(A) by striking the term ‘‘employee, or 
contractor’’ each place such term appears and 
inserting ‘‘employee, volunteer practitioner, or 
contractor’’; 
(B) by striking the term ‘‘employee, and 
contractor’’ each place such term appears and 
inserting ‘‘employee, volunteer practitioner, and 
contractor’’; 
(C) by striking the term ‘‘employee, or any 
contractor’’ each place such term appears and 
inserting ‘‘employee, volunteer practitioner, or 
contractor’’; and 
(D) by striking the term ‘‘employees, or 
contractors’’ each place such term appears and 
inserting ‘‘employees, volunteer practitioners, or 
contractors’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY; DEFINITION.—Section 224(k) of 
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 233(k)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following paragraph: 
‘‘(4)(A) Subsections (g) through (m) apply with re-
spect to volunteer practitioners beginning with the first 
fiscal year for which an appropriations Act provides that 
amounts in the fund under paragraph (2) are available 
with respect to such practitioners. 
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‘‘(B) For purposes of subsections (g) through (m), 
the term ‘volunteer practitioner’ means a practitioner who, 
with respect to an entity described in subsection (g)(4), 
meets the following conditions: 
‘‘(i) The practitioner is a licensed physician or 
a licensed clinical psychologist. 
‘‘(ii) At the request of such entity, the practi-
tioner provides services to patients of the entity, at 
a site at which the entity operates or at a site des-
ignated by the entity. The weekly number of hours 
of services provided to the patients by the practi-
tioner is not a factor with respect to meeting condi-
tions under this subparagraph. 
‘‘(iii) The practitioner does not for the provision 
of such services receive any compensation from such 
patients, from the entity, or from third-party payors 
(including reimbursement under any insurance pol-
icy or health plan, or under any Federal or State 
health benefits program).’’. 
Æ 
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