Title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This bill directs the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to carry out a loan repayment program for certain specialty medicine physicians who provide care in rural communities with shortages of such physicians. Physicians must agree to a period of obligated service and, for each year of such service, HRSA must pay one-sixth of the principal payment and interest on eligible loans up to a maximum cap of $250,000.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 944 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 944

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment 
 program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural 
 communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2021

Mr. McKinley (for himself and Mr. Welch) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment 
 program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural 
 communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, 
                        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. SPECIALTY WORKFORCE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES.

    Title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 292 et seq.) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating part G (42 U.S.C. 795j et seq.) as 
        part H; and
            (2) by inserting after part F (42 U.S.C. 295h) the 
        following new part:

      ``PART G--SPECIALTY MEDICINE WORKFORCE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

``SEC. 782. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Administrator 
of the Health Resources and Services Administration, shall carry out a 
program under which--
            ``(1) the Secretary enters into agreements with specialty 
        medicine physicians to make payments in accordance with 
        subsection (b) on the principal of and interest on any eligible 
        loans described in subsection (c); and
            ``(2) the specialty medicine physicians each agree to 
        complete a period of obligated service described in subsection 
        (d) as a specialty medicine physician in the United States in a 
        rural community experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine 
        physicians.
    ``(b) Payments.--For each year of obligated service by a specialty 
medicine physician pursuant to an agreement under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall make a payment to such physician as follows:
            ``(1) Service in shortage area.--The Secretary shall pay--
                    ``(A) for each year of obligated service by a 
                specialty medicine physician pursuant to an agreement 
                under subsection (a), \1/6\ of the principal of and 
                interest on each eligible loan of the physician which 
                is outstanding on the date the physician began service 
                pursuant to the agreement; and
                    ``(B) for completion of the sixth and final year of 
                such service, the remainder of such principal and 
                interest.
            ``(2) Maximum amount.--The total amount of payments under 
        this section to any specialty medicine physician shall not 
        exceed $250,000.
    ``(c) Eligible Loans.--The loans eligible for repayment under this 
section are each of the following:
            ``(1) Any loan for education in specialty medicine.
            ``(2) 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).
            ``(3) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E of title I of 
        the Higher Education Act of 1965.
            ``(4) Any other Federal loan as determined appropriate by 
        the Secretary.
    ``(d) Period of Obligated Service.--Any specialty medicine 
physician receiving payments under this section as required by an 
agreement under subsection (a) shall agree to a 6-year commitment to 
full-time employment, with no more than 1 year passing between any 2 
years of covered employment, as a specialty medicine physician in the 
United States in a rural community experiencing a shortage of specialty 
medicine physicians.
    ``(e) Ineligibility for Double Benefits.--No borrower may, for the 
same service, receive a reduction of loan obligations or a loan 
repayment under both--
            ``(1) this section; and
            ``(2) any Federally supported loan forgiveness program, 
        including under section 338B, 338I, or 846 of this Act, or 
        section 428J, 428L, 455(m), or 460 of the Higher Education Act 
        of 1965.
    ``(f) Breach.--
            ``(1) Liquidated damages formula.--The Secretary may 
        establish a liquidated damages formula to be used in the event 
        of a breach of an agreement entered into under subsection (a).
            ``(2) Limitation.--The failure by a specialty medicine 
        physician to complete the full period of service obligated 
        pursuant to such an agreement, taken alone, shall not 
        constitute a breach of the agreement, so long as the physician 
        completed in good faith the years of service for which payments 
        were made to the physician under this section.
    ``(g) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 5 years after the date 
of enactment of this section, and not less than every other year 
thereafter through fiscal year 2030, the Secretary shall report to 
Congress on--
            ``(1) the practice location of physicians participating, or 
        who have participated, in the loan repayment program under this 
        section; and
            ``(2) the impact of the loan repayment program under this 
        section on the availability of specialty medicine services in 
        the United States in rural communities experiencing a shortage 
        of specialty medicine physicians.
    ``(h) Definition.--In this section, the term specialty medicine 
physician means a physician practicing in a specialty identified in the 
December 2008 report of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration entitled `The Physician Workforce: Projections and 
Research into Current Issues Affecting Supply and Demand' as a 
specialty whose baseline projected demand exceeds its projected supply 
for the period of 2005 through 2020.
    ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary 
for fiscal years 2022 through 2031.''.
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