Title: Professional's Access to Health Workforce Integration Act of 2018
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Professional's Access to Health Workforce Integration Act of 2018
This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to support career services for health professionals who are immigrants and are internationally educated. HHS may award five grants to nonprofit and governmental entities for such services. In exchange for career assistance, health professionals must commit to working in medically underserved communities.
HHS may also award a grant to support data collection and analysis of such career services.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5917 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5917

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 
    for career support for skilled, internationally educated health 
                 professionals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2018

Ms. Roybal-Allard introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 
    for career support for skilled, internationally educated health 
                 professionals, 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 ``Professional's Access to Health 
Workforce Integration Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to the Association of Schools of Public 
        Health, projections indicate a nationwide shortage of up to 
        250,000 public health workers by 2020.
            (2) According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 
        registered nurse workforce is projected to have 1,088,400 job 
        openings by 2024 due to growth and replacement needs.
            (3) Similar trends are projected for other health 
        professions indicating shortages across disciplines, including 
        within the fields of neurology physicians (about 1,000 by 
        2025), geriatric physicians (nearly 27,000 by 2025), mental and 
        behavioral health, primary care (up to 43,100 by 2030), and 
        community and allied health.
            (4) A nationwide health workforce shortage will result in 
        serious health threats and more severe and costly health care 
        needs, due to, in part, a delayed response to food-borne 
        outbreaks, emerging infectious diseases, natural disasters, 
        fewer cancer screenings, and delayed treatment.
            (5) Vulnerable and underserved populations and health 
        professional shortage areas will be most severely impacted by 
        the health workforce shortage.
            (6) According to the New American Economy, World Education 
        Services (WES), and Migration Policy Institute (MPI), nearly 
        2,000,000 college-educated immigrants in the United States are 
        unemployed or underemployed in low-skilled or semiskilled jobs 
        that fail to draw on their education and expertise.
            (7) According to the New American Economy, WES, and MPI 
        report using data from 2009 to 2013, 27 percent of highly 
        skilled and internationally educated naturalized citizens, 33 
        percent of highly skilled and internationally educated legal 
        permanent residents, and 10 percent of highly skilled and 
        internationally educated temporary visa holders were unemployed 
        or underemployed.
            (8) According to the New American Economy, WES, and MPI 
        report using data from 2009 to 2013, 15 percent of immigrants 
        with undergraduate degrees in medical health sciences and 
        services were either underemployed or unemployed.
            (9) According to the New American Economy, WES, and MPI, 
        underemployment of immigrants--highly skilled immigrants who 
        are working in lower skilled occupations--results in an 
        estimated loss of $10.2 billion in tax revenue at the Federal, 
        State, and local levels.
            (10) According to Upwardly Global and the Welcome Back 
        Initiative, with proper guidance and support, underemployed, 
        skilled immigrants typically increase their income by 215 
        percent to 900 percent.
            (11) According to the Brookings Institution and the 
        Partnership for a New American Economy, immigrants working in 
        the health workforce are, on average, better educated than 
        United States-born workers in the health workforce.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR CAREER SUPPORT FOR SKILLED, INTERNATIONALLY EDUCATED 
              HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services acting 
through the Bureau of Health Workforce of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration, the Director of the National Institute on 
Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of 
Health, or the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health (in this 
section referred to as the ``Secretary'') may award 5 grants to 
eligible entities for career support for skilled, internationally 
educated health professionals, as described in subsection (c).
    (b) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, an entity shall--
            (1) be a clinical, public health, or health services 
        organization, a community-based or nonprofit entity, an 
        academic institution, a faith-based organization, a State, 
        county, or local government, an Area Health Education Center, 
        or another entity determined appropriate by the Secretary; and
            (2) submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 
        such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
        may require.
    (c) Authorized Activities.--Subject to the requirement in 
subsection (d), a grant awarded under this section shall be used--
            (1) to provide services to assist unemployed and 
        underemployed skilled immigrants, residing in the United 
        States, who have legal, permanent work authorization and who 
        are internationally educated health professionals--
                    (A) to enter into the United States health 
                workforce with employment matching their health 
                professional skills and education; and
                    (B) to advance in employment to positions that 
                better match their health professional expertise and 
                education;
            (2) to provide training opportunities to reduce barriers to 
        entry and advancement in the health workforce for skilled, 
        internationally educated immigrants;
            (3) to educate employers regarding the abilities and 
        capacities of internationally educated health professionals;
            (4) to assist in the evaluation of the foreign credentials 
        of skilled, internationally educated health professionals; and
            (5) to facilitate access to contextualized and accelerated 
        courses on English as a second language for skilled, 
        internationally educated health professionals.
    (d) Service Period.--
            (1) In general.--As a condition on receipt of a grant under 
        this section, an eligible entity shall agree to require each 
        health professional or immigrant receiving assistance pursuant 
        to the grant (as described in paragraph (1), (2), (4), or (5) 
        of subsection (c)) to commit to provide health care services to 
        a medically underserved community for a service period 
        determined under paragraph (2).
            (2) Duration of service period.--The duration of service 
        period under paragraph (1) for an individual--
                    (A) shall not exceed 1 year; and
                    (B) shall be determined by the eligible entity 
                receiving the grant under this section, in consultation 
                with the Secretary.
            (3) Remedies for breach of service commitment.--The 
        Secretary shall determine the remedies to be made applicable in 
        agreements pursuant to paragraph (1) for the breach by an 
        individual of the service commitment required by such 
        paragraph.
    (e) Period of a Grant.--The period of a grant under this section 
shall be 3 years.
    (f) Grantee Evaluation.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under 
this section shall use amounts provided through the grant--
            (1) to measure the impacts of activities funded through the 
        grant over the 3-year grant period; and
            (2) to submit a reports to the Secretary on the results of 
        such measurements.
    (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $4,500,000 for the period of 
fiscal years 2019 through 2021.

SEC. 4. GRANT FOR DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services acting 
through the Bureau of Health Workforce of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration, the Director of the National Institute on 
Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of 
Health, or the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health (in this 
section referred to as the ``Secretary'') may award 1 grant to an 
entity to establish, improve, or maintain a data collection system to 
analyze and track the outcomes of programs in the United States 
(including those funded under section 3) for career support for 
skilled, internationally educated health professionals.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $250,000 for the period of 
fiscal years 2019 through 2021.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``health professional'' means an individual 
        trained for employment in the field of public health, health 
        management, dentistry, health administration, medicine, 
        nursing, pharmacy, psychology, social work, psychiatry, other 
        mental and behavioral health, allied health, community health 
        or wellness (including fitness and nutrition), or other fields 
        as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
            (2) The term ``internationally educated'' means having 
        obtained an educational degree outside of the United States.
            (3) The term ``medically underserved community'' has the 
        meaning given to that term in section 799B of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p).
            (4) The term ``underemployed'' means being employed at less 
        skilled tasks than an employee's training or abilities would 
        otherwise permit.
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