jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-03-26 00:00:00

Access to Frontline Health Care Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish and carry out a Frontline Providers Loan Repayment Program under which HHS makes student loan repayments in exchange for a health professional providing frontline care services for two years in a frontline care scarcity area.

Frontline care services include surgery, optometry, physical therapy, pharmacies, public health, dietetics, occupational therapy, pediatrics, and medical technology.

Frontline care scarcity areas are federal health professional shortage areas and areas, populations, or facilities designated by a state as having a shortage of frontline care services.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-13 00:00:00

Occupational Therapy in Mental Health Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to include occupational therapists as behavioral and mental health professionals for purposes of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), thereby making occupational therapists eligible for the NHSC fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, the NHSC Scholarship Program, and the NHSC Loan Repayment Program.

This amendment applies only in fiscal years when funding for NHSC programs is greater than FY2015 funding.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-14 00:00:00

Making the Education of Nurses Dependable for Schools Act or the MEND Act 

Requires the Department of Health and Human Services, for any reimbursements to providers under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act for the costs of nursing and allied health education activities, to apply the regulation establishing the payment methodology for such reimbursements by treating a provider as meeting the requirements:

 for consideration as operating an approved nursing or allied health education program if the provider or a wholly owned subsidiary educational institution singly or collectively meets all such requirements; for payment for certain nonprovider-operated programs at wholly owned subsidiary educational institutions if the provider meets all such requirements except that the transfer of a nursing or allied health education program to that wholly owned subsidiary educational institution to meet accreditation standards occurred after October 1, 2003, and if the provider or its wholly owned subsidiary educational institution has been in continuous operation since October 1, 2003. Defines "wholly owned subsidiary educational institution" as one that: (1) is organized as a legal entity distinct from the provider, (2) has the provider as its sole owner or sole member, and (3) is organized in the same state in which the provider is organized or registered to do business.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Ensuring Children’s Access to Specialty Care Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to include pediatric subspecialties in primary health services for purposes of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). Psychiatrists who are pediatric subspecialists are included in behavioral and mental health professionals. (These amendments make pediatric subspecialists, including psychiatrists, eligible for the NHSC fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, the NHSC Scholarship Program, and the NHSC Loan Repayment Program.)

“Health professional shortage area” can mean an underserved population of children and adolescents.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-04-21 00:00:00

Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to award grants to eligible institutions to: (1) establish a master's or doctoral degree program in orthotics and prosthetics, or (2) expand upon an existing master's degree program in such area. Requires a grant priority for institutions in partnership with a medical center administered by the VA or a facility administered by the Department of Defense. Provides grant amounts of at least $1 million and up to $1.5 million. Defines as eligible institutions those either accredited by the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education or demonstrating an ability to meet such accreditation requirements if receiving a grant.

Requires the Secretary to award a grant to an institution with orthotic and prosthetic research and education experience to: (1) establish the Center of Excellence in Orthotic and Prosthetic Education; and (2) improve orthotic and prosthetic outcomes for veterans, members of the Armed Forces, and civilians by conducting orthotic and prosthetic-based research.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to distribution of additional resident positions as they affect calculation of payments for direct graduate medical education costs.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for each of FY2017-FY2021 (and each succeeding fiscal year if additional residency positions are available to distribute), to increase the otherwise applicable resident limit for each qualifying hospital.

Directs the Secretary to determine the total number of additional residency positions available for distribution, in accordance with guidelines for allocating 33% to hospitals already operating over the resident limit, and generally setting the aggregate number of increases in the resident limit to 3,000 in each year.

Specifies the process for distributing positions.

Declares that, for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2017, the indirect teaching adjustment factor, with respect to additional payments for subsection (d) hospitals with indirect costs of medical education, insofar as those additional payments are attributable to resident positions distributed to a hospital according to such process, shall be computed in a specified manner with respect to those resident positions.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.) Directs the National Health Care Workforce Commission established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to study the physician workforce.

Directs the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing the diversity of the health profession workforce.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Physician Ambassadors Helping Veterans Act

Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use its authority to employ certain personnel without regard to civil service or classification laws, rules, or regulations to employ physicians on a without compensation basis in any practice area or specialty for which: (1) the average waiting time for veterans seeking an appointment with a physician exceeds the VA's waiting time goals, or (2) the VA medical facility where the physician will be employed has demonstrated staffing shortages.

Requires each VA medical facility to have a volunteer coordinator who: (1) seeks to establish relationships with medical associations serving the area, (2) recruits physicians for uncompensated employment at the facility, and (3) serves as the initial point of contact for physicians seeking uncompensated employment at the facility.

Conditions an uncompensated physician's receipt of a credential or privilege to practice medicine in a VA facility on the physician's commitment to serve at least 40 hours in the facility during the ensuing one-year period.

Requires the VA to decide whether to grant an uncompensated physician's request for a credential or privilege to practice medicine in the VA facility within 60 days.

Requires the director of a VA medical facility to approve, and accept the uncompensated services of, any physician who has made the requisite service commitment and receives a credential or privilege to practice medicine in such facility.

Requires the VA to submit annual reports on physicians employed on a without compensation basis. Prohibits any physician employed on such basis from being considered in determining whether there is a staffing shortage throughout the VA with respect to a particular occupation.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-14 00:00:00

Physical Therapist Workforce and Patient Access Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to include physical therapy within the definition of "primary health services" for purposes of the National Health Service Corps. Makes physical therapists eligible for repayment of their educational loans in order to ensure an adequate supply of physical therapists.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-19 00:00:00

This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees involved in reviewing premarket submissions of medical devices to receive training regarding the "least burdensome appropriate means" concept. (Currently, the FDA must consider evaluating medical devices by the least burdensome appropriate means that would have a reasonable likelihood of resulting in approval.) The ombudsman for the FDA unit responsible for the premarket review of devices must audit this training and include in the audit interviews with persons from industry regarding their experience in the device premarket review process.

When the FDA requests additional information about a medical device that is required to have premarket approval, it must consider the least burdensome appropriate means necessary for an applicant to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-21 00:00:00

Audiology Patient Choice Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the coverage of audiology services to treat as physicians qualified audiologists authorized by the state and acting within the scope of their licenses to furnish such services.

Enables Medicare beneficiaries to choose a qualified audiologist without regard to any requirement to be under the care of (or referred by) a physician or other health care practitioner, or that services be provided under the supervision of a physician or other health care practitioner.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-06-03 00:00:00

Marriage and Family Therapists for Veterans Act

Revises the eligibility criteria for appointment to a marriage and family therapist position with the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to require a person: (1) to hold a master's degree in marriage and family therapy, or a comparable degree in mental health, from an institution that is regionally accredited or approved by the VA Secretary (currently, approved by the Secretary); and (2) to have passed the Association of Marital and Family Therapy regulatory board examination in marital and family therapy or an examination for a marriage and family therapy license given by a state board of behavioral sciences (or its equivalent).
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-06-10 00:00:00

Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2016

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to extend nursing programs and revise the advanced education nursing grant program.

(Sec. 2) The advanced education nursing grant program is revised to include clinical nurse leaders as advanced education nurses, thereby making clinical nurse leader education programs eligible for grants. (Clinical nurse leaders are advanced generalist clinicians who apply research and coordinate care in order to improve outcomes for patients.)

To be eligible for advanced education nursing grants, clinical nurse specialist programs must provide registered nurses with full-time clinical nurse specialist education that qualifies the nurses to provide a full range of care.

(Sec. 3) The bill extends through FY2021 nursing programs, including programs for advanced education nursing, loan repayment and scholarships for nurses, loans for nursing faculty, geriatric care education, and nurse retention.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-14 00:00:00

Education and Training for Health Act of 2015 or the EAT for Health Act of 2015

 Directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidelines to federal agencies for developing procedures and requirements to ensure that every primary care health professional employed full-time for such agencies have continuing education courses relating to nutrition. Requires each agency to report to Congress annually on the extent to which it has adopted and encouraged such guidelines for such primary care professionals it employed during any portion of the previous year.

Requires such courses to: (1) include content on the role of nutrition in the prevention, management, and reversal of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or cancer; and (2) meet requirements for Continuing Medical Education or Continuing Education by medical or nurse practitioner professional organizations or certified accrediting bodies.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-21 00:00:00

Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants or contracts for Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers. These Centers must improve the training of health professionals in palliative care and establish traineeships for individuals preparing for advanced education nursing degrees, social work degrees, or advanced degrees in physician assistant studies in palliative care.

HHS may make grants to, and enter into contracts with, schools of medicine, schools of osteopathic medicine, teaching hospitals, and graduate medical education programs to support the training of physicians who plan to teach palliative medicine.

HHS must: (1) provide Palliative Medicine and Hospice Academic Career Awards to individuals to promote their career development; (2) award grants or contracts to entities that operate a Palliative Care and Hospice Education Center; (3) award incentive grants or contracts to advanced practice nurses, social workers, physician assistants, pharmacists, chaplains, or students of psychology pursuing an advanced degree in palliative care or related fields; and (4) award grants to schools of nursing, health care facilities, or programs leading to certification as a nurse assistant to train individuals in providing palliative care.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality must provide for a national education and awareness campaign to inform patients, families, and health professionals about the benefits of palliative care.

The National Institutes of Health must expand national research programs in palliative care.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

Medicare IME Pool Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise Medicare payment for indirect medical education (IME) costs in teaching hospitals. (Teaching hospitals receive IME payments to account for various factors that increase costs in such hospitals.)

Under current law, the IME adjustment is calculated based on the ratio of the hospital's full-time equivalent (FTE) interns and residents to beds. The bill alters the calculation of IME payments such that they are equal to the product of a base amount (adjusted, after FY2019, by the market basket percentage increase applicable to discharges and to account for new teaching programs) and an allotment factor based on FTE resident count.

The bill also makes a technical amendment.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists to supervise cardiac, intensive cardiac, and pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-09-18 00:00:00

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a continuing medical education program for non-VA medical professionals, with the goal of: (1) increasing knowledge and recognition of medical conditions common to veterans and family members, and (2) improving outreach to veterans and family members.

The program must include education on: (1) dealing with patients who are veterans or family members; (2) identifying and treating common mental and physical conditions of veterans and family members; (3) programs and benefits available to veterans and family members through the VA, the Department of Labor, and other federal agencies and non-federal organizations; and (4) the VA health care system.

The VA shall: (1) carry out such program for five years on a VA website at no cost to participating non-VA medical professionals, and (2) ensure that the program is accredited in as many states as practicable.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-09-29 00:00:00

Veterans Access to Care Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to automatically designate medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as health professional shortage areas.

 Individuals may not participate in both the VA's Health Professionals Education Assistance Program and the National Health Service Corps scholarship or loan repayment programs.

The Department of Health and Human Services, in carrying out the National Health Service Corps Program, must consult with the VA regarding health professional shortage areas that are VA medical facilities.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-10-09 00:00:00

Keep Your Chiropractor Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to specify that, with respect to the use of private contracts between Medicare beneficiaries and physicians, a "physician" includes a licensed chiropractor.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-10-09 00:00:00

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise provisions related to graduate medical education (GME) residency positions and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Under current law, for purposes of calculating Medicare payments for hospitals, certain limitations apply regarding the total number of GME residency positions in a hospital's training program. The bill specifies that these limitations shall not apply to any residency position that counts towards meeting the VA's obligation under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to increase by 1,500 the number of GME residency positions at VA medical facilities.

The bill also extends by five years the period over which the VA must increase the number of GME residency positions at its medical facilities.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-10-28 00:00:00

Acupuncture for Heroes and Seniors Act of 2015

This bill provides access to qualified acupuncturist services for: (1) military members and their dependents under the TRICARE program, and (2) veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system.

The VA shall carry out such program at in at least one VA facility in each Veterans Integrated Service Network in both urban and rural areas.

Qualifying acupuncturists may be appointed as commissioned officers in the: (1) Acupuncture Section of the Medical Service Corps of the Army, (2) Medical Service Corps of the Navy, and (3) Air Force (designated as biomedical science officers).

The VA shall establish the Advisory Committee on Acupuncturist Services.

Title XVIII of the Social Security Act is amended to provide Medicare coverage for acupuncturist services.

The Public Health Service Act is amended to make acupuncturists eligible for appointment as officers in the commissioned Regular Corps and the Ready Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-10-28 00:00:00

Chiropractic Membership in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to make chiropractic personnel eligible for appointment to the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Surgeon General must ensure that doctors of chiropractic (chiropractors) are trained, equipped, and otherwise prepared to fulfill public health and emergency response service responsibilities in the Commissioned Corps.

The President must appoint at least six chiropractors into the commissioned Regular Corps and the Ready Reserve Corps.

The Surgeon General must submit a quarterly report to the relevant congressional committees on measures taken by the President, Surgeon General, and HHS to carry out this Act.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-11-05 00:00:00

Physician Assistant Education Public Health Initiatives Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enter into contracts to repay the student loans of physician assistants who agree to serve as: (1) faculty members for physician assistant education programs; or (2) physician assistants in health professional shortage areas, in medically underserved areas, or at health centers serving medically underserved populations.

The bill extends through FY2021 programs that: (1) award grants to health professional schools to provide need-based scholarships, (2) repay the student loans of health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds who agree to serve as faculty members at health professional schools, (3) support fellowships to increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty members at health professional schools, and (4) award grants to health professional schools to assist individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Support provided by HHS for the development, operation, expansion, and improvement of primary care training programs is revised and extended through FY2021.

HHS must award grants to nonprofit organizations to increase research on physician assistant education.
Topic: Health — Manpower
Subject: Education
Date: 2015-11-05 00:00:00

Physician Assistant Higher Education Modernization Act of 2015

This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to assist qualified individuals in receiving the education and training needed to become a physician assistant.

Students enrolled in physician assistant education programs are eligible for increased scholarship opportunities, increased unsubsidized loan limits, and loan forgiveness programs for those who serve in areas of national need upon graduation.

The bill provides educational institutions with the resources to keep up with the demand for new physician assistants. The Department of Education (ED) must:

 provide Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions with grants to fund physician assistant studies, prioritize the awarding of grants for physician assistant education programs that will benefit Hispanics and low-income students, and provide grants to prepare certified physician assistants to become faculty members in physician assistant education programs. In addition, ED is authorized to award grants for the improvement of technology in physician assistant education programs. ED may also create and expand physician assistant education programs at institutions in rural areas.