Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act
Bill: S.3506 | Sponsor: Sen. Smith, Tina (D-MN)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act
This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 and makes changes to the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (a program that awards student loan repayment to individuals with qualifying degrees who commit to work full-time for a federal, state, tribal, or local public health agency for a period of obligated service).
Changes to the program include increasing the maximum repayment amount; eliminating the option for individuals to complete the service obligation in a federal public health agency; and expanding the scope of qualifying degrees to cover, for example, those in statistics, computer science, and programs related to information technology.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services may take actions to equitably distribute awards across geographic regions, among jurisdictional levels, and between urban and rural areas.
The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct an evaluation of the public health workforce.

To strengthen the public health workforce loan repayment program, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening the Public Health 
Workforce Act''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    Section 776 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295f-1) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``supply of'' and inserting 
                ``supply of, and encourage recruitment and retention 
                of,''; and
                    (B) by striking ``Federal,'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (1)(A) to read as 
                follows:
            ``(1)(A)(i) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as 
        a student in an accredited institution of higher education or 
        school of public health in the final semester (or equivalent) 
        of a program leading to a certificate or degree, including a 
        master's or doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, 
        laboratory sciences, data systems, data science, data 
        analytics, informatics, statistics, or other subject matter 
        related to public health; and
            ``(ii) be employed by or have accepted employment with a 
        State, local, or Tribal public health agency, or a related 
        training fellowship at such State, local, or Tribal public 
        health agency, as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon 
        graduation; or''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (1)(B)--
                            (i) in clause (i)--
                                    (I) by striking ``accredited 
                                educational institution in a State or 
                                territory'' and inserting ``accredited 
                                institution of higher education or 
                                school of public health''; and
                                    (II) by striking ``a public health 
                                or health professions degree or 
                                certificate'' and inserting ``a 
                                certificate or degree, including a 
                                master's or doctoral degree, in public 
                                health, epidemiology, laboratory 
                                sciences, data systems, data science, 
                                data analytics, informatics, 
                                statistics, or other subject matter 
                                related to public health''; and
                            (ii) in clause (ii)--
                                    (I) by striking ``Federal,''; and
                                    (II) by striking ``fellowship,'' 
                                and inserting ``fellowship at such 
                                State, local, or Tribal public health 
                                agency,'';
            (3) in subsection (c)(2)--
                    (A) by striking ``Federal,''; and
                    (B) by striking ``equal to the greater of--'' and 
                all that follows through the end of subparagraph (B) 
                and inserting ``of at least 2 consecutive years;'';
            (4) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--A loan repayment provided for an 
        individual under a written contract under the Program shall 
        consist of payment, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the 
        individual toward the outstanding principal and interest on 
        education loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of 
        the relevant degree or certificate described in subsection 
        (b)(1) in accordance with the terms of the contract.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``For each year'' and 
                        inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--For each year'';
                            (ii) by striking ``$35,000'' and inserting 
                        ``$50,000'';
                            (iii) by striking ``$105,000'' and 
                        inserting ``$150,000''; and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Considerations.--The Secretary may take 
                action in making awards under this section to ensure 
                that--
                            ``(i) an appropriate proportion of 
                        contracts are awarded to individuals who are 
                        eligible to participate in the Program pursuant 
                        to subsection (b)(1)(A); and
                            ``(ii) contracts awarded under this section 
                        are equitably distributed among--
                                    ``(I) the geographical regions of 
                                the United States;
                                    ``(II) local, State, and Tribal 
                                public health departments; and
                                    ``(III) such public health 
                                departments under subclause (II) 
                                serving rural and urban areas.'';
            (5) in subsection (e), by striking ``receiving a degree or 
        certificate from a health professions or other related school'' 
        and inserting ``with a contract to serve under subsection 
        (c)'';
            (6) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``In the event that a participant fails to either begin or 
        complete the obligated service requirement of the loan 
        repayment contract under this section, the Secretary may waive 
        or suspend either the unfulfilled service or the assessed 
        damages as provided for under section 338E(d), as 
        appropriate.'';
            (7) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h);
            (8) by inserting after subsection (f) the following:
    ``(g) Eligible Loans.--The loans eligible for repayment under this 
section are each of the following:
            ``(1) Any loan for education or training for employment by 
        a health department.
            ``(2) Any loan under part E of title VIII (relating to 
        nursing student loans).
            ``(3) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Direct PLUS 
        Loan, Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or Federal 
        Direct Consolidation Loan (as such terms are used in section 
        455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965).
            ``(4) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E of title I of 
        the Higher Education Act of 1965.
            ``(5) Any other Federal loan, as the Secretary determines 
        appropriate.'';
            (9) in subsection (h), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``$195,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and such sums as may be 
        necessary for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015'' and 
        inserting ``such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 
        years 2023 through 2025''; and
            (10) by striking ``tribal'' each place such term appears 
        and inserting ``Tribal''.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall--
            (1) conduct an evaluation of what is known about the public 
        health workforce in the United States during the COVID-19 
        pandemic, which shall address--
                    (A) existing gaps in the Federal, State, local, 
                Tribal, and territorial public health workforce, 
                including positions that may be required to prevent, 
                prepare for, and respond to, a public health emergency 
                such as COVID-19;
                    (B) challenges associated with the hiring, 
                recruitment, and retention of the Federal, State, 
                local, Tribal, and territorial public health workforce; 
                and
                    (C) recommended steps to improve hiring, 
                recruitment, and retention of the public health 
                workforce; and
            (2) submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
        and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on such 
        review.
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