Physician Shortage Elimination Act of 2007

Bill: 110-s-896
Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
Introduced: 2007-03-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Authorization
Building construction
Child health
Clinics
Community health services
Construction costs
Curricula
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Education of the disadvantaged
Emergency Management
Emergency medicine
Families
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Government Operations and Politics
Higher education
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Indian medical care
Labor and Employment
Leases
Maintenance and repair
Medical education
Medical personnel
Medical residents
Medical supplies
Medicare
Mentoring
Minorities
Minorities in medicine
Minority education
Obstetrics
Physicians
Public health personnel
Recruiting of employees
Rural health
Scholarships
Social Welfare
Student loan funds

Summary:
action_date: 2007-03-15
text: 
Physician Shortage Elimination Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize appropriations for FY2008-FY2012 to: (1) carry out the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program and Loan Repayment Program to assure an adequate supply of physicians and other health professionals to provide primary health services; (2) assist schools in supporting programs of excellence in health professionals education for underrepresented minority individuals; and (3) assist individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to undertake education to enter a health profession.
 
Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to community health centers to: (1) establish new or alternative-campus accredited medical residency training programs affiliated with a hospital or other health care facility; or (2) fund new residency positions within existing accredited medical residency training programs at the centers and their affiliated partners. Requires the Secretary to give preference to funding medical residency training programs focusing on primary health care.
 
Allows the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to make grants to community health centers to: (1) increase the number of medical service providers associated with such centers; and (2) increase primary health care capabilities through the construction, expansion, or renovation of facilities.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to recipients of financial assistance for area health education center programs to improve the effectiveness of such programs.
 
Amends title XVIII (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to make changes to the direct and indirect graduate medical education provisions regarding costs for the training program for purposes of counting the number of residents in a non-hospital setting. Sets forth requirements for a medical residency training program to be considered an accredited training program with an integrated rural track.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2007-03-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2007-03-15
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3204-3206)
action_date: 2007-03-15
text: Introduced in Senate