I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1313
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 
for volunteer practitioners at health centers under section 330 of such Act. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 15, 2005
Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. 
CANTOR, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. BONILLA, Mrs. BONO, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. WALSH, Mr. BRADLEY 
of New Hampshire, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. GINGREY, and Mr. SHAD-
EGG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability 
protections for volunteer practitioners at health centers 
under section 330 of such Act.
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 ‘‘Community Health 
Center Volunteer Physician Protection Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) As there are over 45 million individuals 
lacking health insurance or have inadequate health 
care coverage in the United States, health centers 
under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, 
including community health centers, are increasingly 
called upon to provide care to the uninsured and 
underinsured. While low-income individuals have ac-
cess to Medicaid and the elderly and disabled have 
access to Medicare, such health centers offer an af-
fordable alternative to costly emergency room care. 
(2) These health centers are being challenged 
by increasing financial pressures that jeopardize 
their ability to provide access to health services for 
a number of large medically underserved popu-
lations, including the elderly, the uninsured, and 
lower-income individuals. 
(3) Granting volunteer physician liability cov-
erage through the program under section 224(g) of 
the Public Health Service Act (relating to the provi-
sions of title 28, United States Code, that are com-
monly referred to as the Federal Tort Claims Act) 
would significantly increase the number of physi-
cians available onsite at such health centers. Federal 
studies have concluded that by offering liability cov-
erage, such centers are able to redirect funds to re-
cruit full-time physicians and provide needed health 
care services to their communities. 
(4) In addition, an increase in volunteer physi-
cians at the health centers will result in a direct im-
provement in the ability of the centers to offer qual-
ity health care services where the services are needed 
most. 
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), by striking ‘‘employee, or contractor’’ each 
place such term appears and inserting ‘‘employee, 
volunteer practitioner, or contractor’’.
(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. 
‘‘(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).’’.
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