zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
This bill includes directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of the Under Secretary for Health.

The bill provides that the pay for medical directors and directors of networks shall consist of base pay and market pay. Market pay shall consist of pay intended to reflect the recruitment and retention needs for the assignment of a particular director.

The requirement that the VA consult with two or more national surveys in making a general determination of market pay for physicians and dentists, or with a panel or board in making such determination for a specific physician or dentist, is eliminated.

The annual determination of VHA staff shortages shall include shortages for five clinical and five non-clinical occupations for each network. (Such determination currently includes the five occupations for which there are the largest VA-wide shortages.)

The bill establishes in the VA an executive management fellowship program to provide eligible employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the VHA with private sector training and experience.

Veterans federal employment preference provisions are amended to: (1) make all retired members of the armed forces preference eligible, (2) provide preference eligible individuals with a senior executive position hiring preference, and (3) make the active duty service criteria 180 cumulative days (rather than 180 consecutive days as currently provided).

The VA may non-competitively appoint a qualified former employee to any VA position within the competitive or excepted service that is one grade higher than the position most recently occupied by the employee.

The VA shall:

 conduct an annual performance plan for each political appointee that is similar to the plan conducted for VA senior executive employees; establish a single database that lists each vacant VA position that is critical, difficult to fill, or both; prescribe regulations to allow for excepted service appointments of qualifying students and recent graduates leading to career or career conditional employment; provide VHA human resources with training on employee recruitment and retention; establish a promotional track system for employees who are technical experts to advance without being required to transition to management positions; collect information on hiring effectiveness; and develop and carry out a standardized exit survey for career and noncareer VA employees and executives who voluntarily separate from the VA. The Government Accountability Office shall conduct a study of succession planning at: (1) each VA medical facility, and (2) the VBA and the VA National Cemetery Administration.

Date: 2016-06-16
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2016

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)to develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental health professionals.

Additionally, HHS must develop a comprehensive and coordinated plan for the environmental health workforce that: (1)includes performance measures, (2)identifies any gaps between existing programs and future environmental health workforce needs, and (3)identifies actions needed to address any identified gaps.

The Government Accountability Office must identify the best practices related to training and credentialing environmental health professionals in six states.

The bill also amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make environmental health professionals eligible for loan forgiveness programs from the Department of Education.

Date: 2016-06-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Graduate Opportunities in Medical Education Distribution Act of 2016

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to redistribute unused residency positions for which graduate medical education costs are paid under Medicare. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must: (1) reduce a hospital's resident limit by a specified amount if the hospital has unused residency positions and is not a rural hospital with fewer than 250 acute care inpatient beds, and (2) increase the resident limit for each qualifying hospital that applies for an increase. In aggregate, the number of increased positions shall equal the number of reduced positions. The bill establishes specified priorities and capacity considerations with respect to redistribution.

Date: 2016-09-15
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Improving Cancer Treatment Education Act of 2016

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to establish Medicare coverage with respect to comprehensive treatment education services for cancer patients.

In addition, the bill requires the National Institutes of Health to expand, intensify, and coordinate research on cancer symptom management improvement.

Date: 2016-09-20
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans-Specific Education for Tomorrow's Medical Doctors Act or the VET MD Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a three-year pilot program at at least five VA medical centers to provide undergraduate students a clinical observation experience.

The VA shall ensure that such program:

 increases the awareness, knowledge, and empathy of future medical professionals toward the medical conditions common to veterans; increases the diversity of the recruitment pool of future VA physicians; provides a diverse clinical observation experience commensurate with the standard expectations for medical school applications; and expands clinical observation opportunities for all students by encouraging students of all backgrounds to consider a career in medicine. The VA shall select undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens enrolled in an accredited science or medical program of study to participate in the program, with priority to students who resided in a health professional shortage area and who are the first in their immediate family to attend an undergraduate institution.

Date: 2016-09-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Physician Shortage Minimization Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to classify, for employment tax purposes, certain physicians who provide medical services for a temporary period (locum tenens physicians) as independent contractors rather than as employees.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Taxation
Veterans' Health Care Safety Act of 2016

This bill prohibits implementation of a proposed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule to permit full practice authority of all VA advanced practice registered nurses when they are acting within the scope of their VA employment.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to modify, with respect to graduate medical education (GME) payments under the Medicare program, provisions related to "approved medical residency training programs" by: (1) specifying that such programs include osteopathic community residency training programs; and (2) replacing the requirement for such programs to include certain postgraduate training in geriatric medicine with a requirement for approval by a certified accrediting body.

Under current law, a "foreign medical graduate" is generally a resident who was not a graduate of a school that meets the standards for accreditation by one of several specified accreditors. (Foreign medical graduates are subject to certain examination requirements for purposes of being counted as residents with respect to Medicare GME payments.) The bill alters this definition such that a "foreign medical graduate" is a resident who is not a graduate of an accredited school.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must certify at least two accrediting bodies for the purpose of accrediting medical residency training programs in allopathic and osteopathic medicine.

Date: 2016-11-16
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Fairness to Teaching Hospitals Act of 2016

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to specify that a certain Medicare rule for counting resident time in nonprovider settings shall not be applied in a manner that requires the reopening of any settled hospital cost reports except where there was a jurisdictionally proper appeal pending as of March 23, 2010. The bill applies retroactively.

Date: 2016-12-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans to Paramedics Transition Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise the grant program to improve emergency medical services in rural areas to include as a permissible use of grant funds the provision of coursework and training to enable veterans to satisfy emergency medical services personnel certification requirements. Requires such coursework and training to take into account previous medical coursework and training received by such veterans when they were on active duty in the Armed Forces.

Date: 2015-01-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2015

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the 96-hour physician certification requirement for inpatient critical access hospital services under which a physician must certify that a patient may reasonably be expected to be discharged or transferred to a hospital within 96 hours after admission to the critical access hospital.

Date: 2015-01-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration program for states with a shortage of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to streamline state requirements and procedures to assist veterans who completed military EMT training to meet state EMT certification, licensure, and other requirements.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Physician Ambassadors Helping Veterans Act

Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use the Secretary's 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 Secretary 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.

Date: 2015-02-25
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act or the BEST Practices Act

Requires the Department of Defense (DOD), no later than: (1) October 1, 2018, to develop, test, and validate human-based training methods for training members of the Armed Forces in the treatment of combat trauma injuries, with the goal of replacing live animal-based training methods; and (2) October 1, 2020, to use only use human-based training methods for such purposes.

Prohibits the use of animals in such training after the latter date, but permits DOD to exempt a particular command or training method from human-based training method requirements for up to one year if the human-based methods will not provide an educationally equivalent or superior substitute for live animal-based training methods. Allows exemption periods to be renewed.

Requires DOD to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the development and implementation of the human-based training methods, including the justifications for any exemptions.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Improving Access to Maternity Care Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Health Resources and Services Administration to designate maternity care health professional shortage areas and review these designations at least annually.

The Department of Health and Human Services must collect and publish data on health professional shortage areas so availability of maternal health professionals can be compared by professional category and geographic region.

A maternity care health professional shortage area is: (1) an area determined to have a shortage of providers of full scope maternity care health services or of hospital or birth center labor and delivery units, or (2) a population group determined to have a shortage of such providers or facilities.

Full scope maternity care health services include care during labor, birthing, prenatal care, and postpartum care.

Date: 2015-03-03
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
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.

Date: 2015-03-03
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act

Provides that for purposes of medical professional liability insurance or civil and criminal malpractice liability determinations, a physician or athletic trainer (covered sports medicine professional) who is authorized to practice medicine in a state (primary state) and who provides medical services to an athlete or athletic team in a state where such professional is not authorized to practice (secondary state) shall be deemed to have provided such medical services in the primary state, provided that prior to providing the covered medical services such professional has disclosed the nature and extent of such services to the entity that provides such professional with medical professional liability insurance in the primary state.

Date: 2015-03-10
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
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.

Date: 2015-03-17
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
National Health Service Corps Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to include optometry services in primary health services for purposes of the National Health Service Corps.

Optometrists are eligible for the fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Date: 2015-04-13
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
National Health Service Corps Expansion Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the medical facilities or the health care of a county or municipal correctional institution to be designated as a health professional shortage area. (Health professionals working in a health professional shortage area are eligible for the National Health Service Corps and the Corp's fellowship program, Scholarship Program, and Loan Repayment Program.)

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
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.

Requires the aggregate number of increases in the otherwise applicable resident limit to be 3,000 in each of FY2017-FY2021, of which 1,500 in each such fiscal year shall be used for full-time equivalent residents training in a shortage specialty residency program.

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.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Medicare Patient Access to Hospice Act of 2015 

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize attending physician assistants as attending physicians to serve hospice patients.

Date: 2015-05-14
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
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.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Department of Veterans Affairs Emergency Medical Staffing Recruitment and Retention Act

This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to modify the hours of employment for a physician or physician assistant appointed in the VA on a full-time basis to more or less than 80 hours in a biweekly pay period provided the employee's total hours of employment in a calendar year do not exceed 2,080.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Delivering Opportunities for Care and Services for Veterans Act of 2015 or the DOCs for Veterans Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to determining the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) residents for payments to hospitals for direct graduate medical education (GME) costs, in particular the limitation on the total number of FTE residents in the field of allopathic or osteopathic medicine in a hospital's approved medical residency training program. In applying this limitation, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall not take into account any such resident who counts towards meeting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) obligation under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to increase the number of GME residency positions at VA medical facilities by up to 1,500 positions.

The period for increasing GME residency positions at VA medical facilities is extended to 10 years.

 The VA and HHS shall jointly conduct a six-year pilot program to establish at least three graduate behavioral medicine residency programs in underserved areas in the United States.

Education and training of marriage and family therapists and licensed professional mental health counselors shall be included in VA health personnel education and training programs.

Persons with a doctoral degree in mental health counseling are eligible for appointment to a VA mental health counselor position.

Physician assistants in VA facilities must receive pay competitive with pay for similar positions in non-VA facilities in the same labor market.

At least 30% of debt reduction payments paid under the education debt reduction program each year shall be paid to individuals who practice medicine in a rural or highly rural area.

The positions (and pay) of Directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks are established.

 The VA shall conduct a two-year pilot program to assess the feasibility of implementing in rural and highly rural areas with a large percentage of veterans a nurse advice line to provide veterans with medical advice, appointment and cancellation services, and information on the availability of VA benefits.

Date: 2015-06-24
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
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.

Date: 2015-09-17
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Building a Health Care Workforce for the Future Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award matching grants to enable states to implement scholarship programs to ensure an adequate supply of health professionals.

HHS may award grants to assist medical schools in developing and strengthening primary care mentorship programs and cultivating leaders in primary care among its students.

HHS must award grants to medical and other health professions schools to promote priority competencies that are selected annually by the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry, in order to foster curricular innovations to improve the education and training of health care providers.

HHS must seek to enter into a contract whereby the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) studies the documentation requirements for cognitive services (evaluation and management services) required under Medicare and Medicaid and through private health insurers.

Date: 2015-09-30
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Family Health Care Accessibility Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to deem a health professional volunteer providing primary health care to an individual at a community health center or through programs or events carried out by a center to be an employee of the Public Health Service for purposes of any civil action that may arise from providing services to patients. For a volunteer to be covered by this liability protection, the Department of Health and Human Services must approve the center's application to sponsor the volunteer.

Date: 2015-10-07
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Department of Veterans Affairs Provider Equity Act

This bill includes podiatrists within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) definition of physician, and increases their pay grade to match other VA physician compensation.

Date: 2015-10-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
FDA Regulatory Efficiency Act

This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a third-party quality system assessment program to accredit persons to assess whether a medical device manufacturer's quality system can ensure the safety and effectiveness or substantial equivalence of an approved medical device after certain changes, including changes in manufacturing or changes to enhance device safety.

Device manufacturers with quality systems that have been certified by an accredited person are allowed to make changes to a device without submitting to the FDA the premarket notification, 30-day notice, or premarket approval supplement that would otherwise be required.

An accredited person who assesses a device manufacturer's quality system must submit a summary of their assessment and, as appropriate, a certification of the quality system to the FDA within 30 days of the assessment. An assessment summary and certification is deemed accepted by the FDA 30 days after submission unless the FDA determines that additional information is needed to support certification, the assessment or certification is unwarranted, or an action other than acceptance of the certification is otherwise justified.

Device manufacturers who make changes to devices without submitting a premarket notification must describe the changes in an annual summary submitted to the FDA. Changes made without submitting a 30-day notice or a premarket approval supplement must be described in a periodic report.

Certifications accepted by the FDA remain in effect for two years.

The FDA must report on this quality system assessment program no later than January 31, 2022. The program is terminated at the end of FY2022.

Date: 2015-10-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veteran Partners' Efforts to Enhance Reintegration Act or Veteran PEER Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish peer specialists in patient aligned care teams at VA medical centers to promote the use and integration of mental health services in a primary care setting.

At least 5 centers shall be polytrauma centers, and at least 10 shall be non-polytrauma centers.

The VA shall ensure that the needs of female veterans are specifically addressed and that female peer specialists are included in the program.

Date: 2015-10-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Co-Prescribing Saves Lives Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide information to certain prescribers on best practices for prescribing naloxone for patients receiving chronic opioid therapy or being treated for opioid use disorders. (Naloxone is a prescription drug used to rapidly reverse an overdose of opioids, which are drugs with effects similar to opium, such as heroin and certain pain medications.) The information must be provided to prescribers in federally qualified health centers and the health care facilities of the Indian Health Service.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs must provide such information to prescribers in their medical facilities.

Date: 2015-11-05
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a Docs-to-Doctors Program to recruit individuals separating from the Armed Forces who served in a health care capacity in the Armed Forces.

The VA shall: (1) implement a uniform credentialing process for certain health care employees of the Veterans Health Administration; and (2) provide full practice authority to advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants, and such other licensed VA health care professionals as consistent with their education, training, and certification.

Date: 2015-11-10
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Medicare Home Health Flexibility Act of 2015

This bill establishes circumstances under which an occupational therapist may conduct the initial assessment visit for an individual who is eligible for home health services under Medicare. Specifically, an occupational therapist may conduct the assessment if the physician's referral order does not include skilled nursing care but does include: (1) occupational therapy, and (2) physical therapy or speech language pathology.

Date: 2015-12-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Physician Shortage Minimization Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to classify, for employment tax purposes, certain physicians who provide medical services for a temporary period (locum tenens physicians) as independent contractors rather than as employees.

Date: 2015-12-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Taxation
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.

Date: 2016-04-05
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
This bill provides that persons with a degree that is equivalent to a master's degree in mental health counseling shall be eligible for appointment to a Department of Veterans Affairs licensed professional mental health counselor position.

Date: 2016-04-11
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Ensuring Children’s Access to Specialty Care Act of 2016

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.

Date: 2016-04-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2016

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise physician supervision requirements under the Medicare program for radiology services performed by advanced level radiographers. Specifically, with respect to a state that has established such requirements for those services, the bill aligns Medicare's requirements with state requirements.

An "advanced level radiographer" is a radiographer who has obtained specified certification from either the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists or the Certification Board for Radiology Practitioner Assistants.

Date: 2016-05-17
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Restoring Rural Residencies Act of 2016

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reimburse medical residency training programs under Medicare for certain graduate medical education costs associated with resident time spent in rural community hospitals known as "critical access hospitals."

Date: 2016-06-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Maximizing Efficiency and Improving Access to Providers at the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out an 18-month pilot program to increase the use of medical scribes to maximize the efficiency of physicians at VA medical facilities. A "medical scribe" is defined as a member of the medical team hired and trained to perform documentation in an electronic health record to maximize the productivity of a physician.

The program shall be conducted at not fewer than five medical facilities: (1) that the VA determines have a high volume of patients; or (2) which are located in rural areas, at which there is a shortage of physicians, and each physician of which has a high caseload.

To carry out such program, the VA shall enter into a contract with one or more appropriate nongovernmental entities that train and employ professional medical scribes who specialize in the collection of medical data and data entry into electronic health records.

The VA shall collect data to determine the effectiveness of the program, including information on changes in the average wait times for veterans to receive care, the average number of patients that a physician is able to see, the average amount of time such a physician spends on documentation, physician satisfaction and retention scores, and patient satisfaction scores.

Date: 2016-06-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2016

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to shield a health care professional from liability under federal or state law for harm caused by any act or omission if: (1) the professional is serving as a volunteer in response to a disaster; and (2) the act or omission occurs during the period of the disaster, in the professional's capacity as a volunteer, and in a good faith belief that the individual being treated is in need of health care services.

This protection from liability does not apply if: (1) the harm was caused by an act or omission constituting willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed; or (2) the professional rendered the health care services under the influence of alcohol or an intoxicating drug.

Date: 2016-06-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Ensuring Access to General Surgery Act of 2016

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to study access by underserved populations to general surgeons, including whether the health professional shortage area designation under the National Health Service Corps program accurately assesses adequacy of access or whether another measure or designation would be more appropriate.

HHS must consider potential methodologies for designating surgical health professional shortage areas.

Date: 2016-07-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Strengthening Our Rural Health Workforce Act of 2016

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to reauthorize the National Health Care Workforce Commission.The commission must track information on the career paths of medical school and residency program graduates and make such information publicly available.

The Department of Health and Human Services must revise the definition of medical residency training programs (rural track training programs)in rural areas so that more health care facilities are able to participate.

The Government Accountability Office must: (1) study and report on graduate medical education funding structures and their success in bringing physicians to practice in rural communities, and (2) report on improving data collection on emerging health care professions.

The bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to redistribute unused residency positions to rural hospitals.

The bill amends the Public Health Service Act to (1) reauthorize the Primary Care Residency Expansion Program and Area Health Education Centers, and (2) authorize appropriations through FY2021 for the Quentin N. Burdick Program for Rural Interdisciplinary Training to provide access to health care in rural areas.

The bill incorporates emerging health professionals, such as dental therapists and community paramedics, into existing loan forgiveness programs and other training programs for allied health professionals.

The bill amends the Public Health Service Act to establish mental health and substance use disorder training programs for schools of medicine or nursing, physician assistants, pharmacy, social work, and other allied health professions to ensure that health care providers are able to recognize, diagnose, and treat mental health and substance use disorders.

The bill also funds essential mental and behavioral health education and training grants that are used to recruit and train graduate students in mental and behavioral health fields who practice in rural and other high need areas.

Date: 2016-07-13
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2016

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to extend through FY2021 support for nursing workforce programs and grants.

Eligibility for advanced nursing education grants is expanded to include education programs for clinical nurse leaders and all combined registered nurse and graduate degree programs. (Clinical nurse leaders are advanced generalist clinicians who apply research and coordinate care in order to improve outcomes for patients.) To be eligible for these 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.

Programs for loan repayment and scholarships for nurses, loans for nursing faculty, and geriatric care education are extended through FY2021. Grants for increasing nursing workforce diversity are also extended through FY2021.

Nurse education, practice, and quality grants are extended through FY2021 and eligibility is expanded to include nurse-managed health clinics.

Grants for nursing career ladder programs are expanded to: (1) promote career advancement for individuals to become registered nurses or advanced education nurses; and (2) support internships and residency programs to encourage mentoring and the development of specialties.

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Graduate Medical Education Equity Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow a qualified hospital to have its payment amount for direct graduation medical education costs calculated on the basis of its Medicaid inpatient utilization rate rather than on the basis of its Medicare patient load.

Date: 2016-12-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Clean Up the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 2016

This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from employing any individual who has been convicted of any of the following state or federal criminal offenses for which the minimum term of imprisonment is more than one year:

 a sex offense, an offense involving the sale or distribution of a controlled substance, fraud, theft, assault, battery, a crime of violence, an offense involving the use of a firearm or other deadly weapon, bank robbery, or kidnapping. The VA may not employ any individual in a health care position who has had a license or credential relating to such position revoked or suspended.

The VA shall: (1) conduct background checks before hiring, and (2) terminate any individual employed by the VA in violation of this bill in a manner consistent with merit system principles.

Date: 2016-12-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Mohawk River Hydroelectric Projects Licensing Act of 2007 - Prohibits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from issuing a new license for a hydroelectric project on the Mohawk River in New York if the project has been operating under annual licenses for 10 or more years, unless FERC: (1) issues a public notice that it will accept other valid license applications to develop or dispose of the project works or water resource (including certain nonpower license applications); and (2) approves a license application, according to the requirements of this Act, if other valid license applications are submitted, or if FERC has issued a new license that is not yet final. Sets forth processing and approval procedures. Requires any new power license issued for such project to include the same license conditions relating to the use of affected waters as provided in the license for a specified Potomac Light & Power Company Project. Declares this Act applicable to specified hydroelectric projects for which: (1) a new license has been issued at the time of this Act but which has not yet become final under law; (2) there are pending judicial appeals; (3) the time has not yet lapsed for filing such appeals; or (4) there is a pending appeal of the Clean Water Act section 401 Water Quality Certificate.

Date: 2007-01-16
Topic: Energy (Electricity)
Subject: Energy
Home Energy Generation Act - Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require each state regulatory authority and nonregulated electric utility to conduct a hearing, and on the basis of such hearing, adopt a net metering standard. Requires retail electric suppliers to offer to arrange to make net metering available to retail customers on a first-come-first-served basis. Prescribes implementation requirements regarding: (1) net energy measurement; (2) billing practices; (3) ownership of credits; (4) safety and performance standards; (5) interconnection and model standards; and (6) consumer friendly contracts.

Date: 2007-01-30
Topic: Energy (Electricity)
Subject: Energy
Amends the Federal Power Act, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to repeal provisions regarding the siting of interstate electric transmission facilities, including: (1) the designation of national interest electric transmission corridors; (2) issuance of permits for the construction or modification of such facilities; (3) acqusition by a permit holder of rights-of-way for such a facility through the exercise of eminent domain in a federal district court; and (4) the consent of Congress to interstate compacts for establishment of regional transmission siting agencies.

Date: 2007-02-05
Topic: Energy (Electricity)
Subject: Energy
Protecting Communities from Power Line Abuse Act - Amends the Federal Power Act to repeal provisions regarding: (1) mandatory fair market value compensation for right-of-way acquisitions; (2) transmission facility modifications in accordance with state law; and (3) requirements for coordination of federal authorizations for interstate electric transmission facilities, including authorization to file an appeal with the President regarding denial of an application for such an authorization. Modifies requirements for acquisition of rights-of-way for electric transmission facilities located on property other than federal or state property. Provides that, if the permit holder cannot acquire by contract, or is unable to agree upon compensation with the owner of the property, the permit holder may acquire the right-of-way in accordance with state law for the state in which the property is located. (Thus repeals current law which allows the permit holder to acquire the-right-of-way through the exercise of eminent domain in a federal district court.) Requires the length of at least one year for the comment period on an application for a transmission facility permit.

Date: 2007-02-05
Topic: Energy (Electricity)
Subject: Energy
National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor Clarification Act - Amends the Federal Power Act to revise the factors the Secretary of Energy may consider in determining whether to designate a national interest electric transmission corridor. Authorizes the Secretary to consider whether the designation would have potential impacts on natural values and special places considered to be in the national interest. Repeals authority to consider whether designation would serve U.S. energy independence. Directs the Secretary, before a corridor designation, to analyze all alternatives measures that could address energy transmission constraints or congestion. Prohibits a corridor designation from encompassing, within one mile of their respective boundaries, lands on which development is prohibited or limited to protect scenic, natural, cultural, or historic resources. Revises conditions for issuance of permits by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for construction or modification of electric transmission facilities in such a corridor. Requires that a state commission or other state entity with authority to approve facility siting has: (1) disapproved the siting in a decision that FERC considers an abuse of discretion; or (2) unreasonably withheld or delayed making a decision for at least a year. Requires each permit application to include an engineering study of the feasibility of placing the line underground. Requires treatment as a taking for which just compensation is due of a diminution of 10% or more in any property value resulting from acquisition of a right-of-way and the construction of a facility on it. Requires each agency to issue its own record of decision in order to ensure that its environmental review complies with statutory mandates and regulatory requirements. Repeals any right to appeal to the President an agency denial or failure to act regarding federal authorization for a transmission facility.

Date: 2007-02-05
Topic: Energy (Electricity)
Subject: Energy