Allied Health Reinvestment Act

Bill: 109-s-473
Sponsor: Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA]
Introduced: 2005-02-28 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: AIDS (Disease)
Access to health care
Communication in medicine
Compensatory education
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Continuing education
Cost effectiveness
Crime and Law Enforcement
Day care
Demography
Distance education
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Educational counseling
Educational statistics
Educational technology
Elementary and secondary education
English language
Families
Family violence
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Finance and Financial Sector
Geriatrics
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Higher education
Homeless
Housing and Community Development
Human immunodeficiency viruses
Labor and Employment
Labor statistics
Loan defaults
Managed care
Mathematics
Medical associations
Medical education
Medical residents
Medical technology
Mentoring
Minorities
Minorities in medicine
Paramedical personnel
Public service advertising
Quality of care
Recruiting of employees
Rural health
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Scientific education
Social Welfare
Student loan funds
Teacher education
Technological innovations
Transportation and Public Works
Travel costs
Victims of crimes
Vocational guidance
Wife abuse
Women

Summary:
action_date: 2005-02-28
text: 
Allied Health Reinvestment Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop public service announcements to promote the allied health professions.
 
Requires the Secretary to award grants to promote such professions by: (1) supporting relevant State and local campaigns; (2) increasing education opportunities; (3) carrying out programs to facilitate the entry of students into relevant careers; (4) expanding enrollment into such programs; (5) providing education through new technologies and methods; (6) enhancing the workforce through retention programs; (7) developing retention strategies; (8) expanding area health education centers to develop models of excellence for such professionals; and (9) developing clinical education, internship, and resident programs that encourage mentoring and the development of specialties.
 
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to enter into agreements to establish faculty loan funds to increase the number of qualified allied health faculty.
 
Requires the Secretary to: (1) provide scholarships to individuals seeking allied health education who agree to provide service in rural and other medically underserved areas with personnel shortages; (2) develop a system for collecting and analyzing workforce data to determine education pipeline and practitioner shortages and to project future needs for such a workforce; and (3) include allied health schools among the schools eligible to receive grants to support Centers of Excellence in health professions education for underrepresented minority individuals.
 
Requires the Comptroller General to conduct an evaluation of whether this Act has demonstrably increased the number of allied health education program applicants.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-02-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1807-1810)
action_date: 2005-02-28
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1805-1807)
action_date: 2005-02-28
text: Introduced in Senate