SEC 5403 INTERDISCIPLINARY, COMMUNITY-BASED LINK-

Health Care Workforce

SEC 5403 INTERDISCIPLINARY, COMMUNITY-BASED LINK-

AGES.

(a) AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS.—Section

751 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294a) is 17

amended to read as follows: 18

‘‘SEC. 751. AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS.

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF AWARDS.—The Secretary

shall make the following 2 types of awards in accordance 21

with this section: 22

‘‘(1) INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AWARD.—

The Secretary shall make awards to eligible entities 24

to enable such entities to initiate health care work- 25

force educational programs or to continue to carry 1

out comparable programs that are operating at the 2

time the award is made by planning, developing, op- 3

erating, and evaluating an area health education cen- 4

ter program. 5

‘‘(2) POINT OF SERVICE MAINTENANCE AND EN-

HANCEMENT AWARD.—The Secretary shall make

awards to eligible entities to maintain and improve 8

the effectiveness and capabilities of an existing area 9

health education center program, and make other 10

modifications to the program that are appropriate 11

due to changes in demographics, needs of the popu- 12

lations served, or other similar issues affecting the 13

area health education center program. For the pur- 14

poses of this section, the term ‘Program’ refers to the 15

area health education center program. 16

‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES; APPLICATION.—

‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—

‘‘(A) INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT.—

For purposes of subsection (a)(1), the term ‘eligi- 20

ble entity’ means a school of medicine or osteo- 21

pathic medicine, an incorporated consortium of 22

such schools, or the parent institutions of such a 23

school. With respect to a State in which no area 24

health education center program is in operation, 25

the Secretary may award a grant or contract 1

under subsection (a)(1) to a school of nursing. 2

‘‘(B) POINT OF SERVICE MAINTENANCE AND

ENHANCEMENT.—For purposes of subsection

(a)(2), the term ‘eligible entity’ means an entity 5

that has received funds under this section, is op- 6

erating an area health education center program, 7

including an area health education center or 8

centers, and has a center or centers that are no 9

longer eligible to receive financial assistance 10

under subsection (a)(1). 11

‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity desiring

to receive an award under this section shall submit 13

to the Secretary an application at such time, in such 14

manner, and containing such information as the Sec- 15

retary may require. 16

‘‘(c) USE OFFUNDS.—

‘‘(1) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity

shall use amounts awarded under a grant under sub- 19

section (a)(1) or (a)(2) to carry out the following ac- 20

tivities: 21

‘‘(A) Develop and implement strategies, in 22

coordination with the applicable one-stop deliv- 23

ery system under section 134(c) of the Workforce 24

Investment Act of 1998, to recruit individuals 25

from underrepresented minority populations or 1

from disadvantaged or rural backgrounds into 2

health professions, and support such individuals 3

in attaining such careers. 4

‘‘(B) Develop and implement strategies to 5

foster and provide community-based training 6

and education to individuals seeking careers in 7

health professions within underserved areas for 8

the purpose of developing and maintaining a di- 9

verse health care workforce that is prepared to 10

deliver high-quality care, with an emphasis on 11

primary care, in underserved areas or for health 12

disparity populations, in collaboration with 13

other Federal and State health care workforce de- 14

velopment programs, the State workforce agency, 15

and local workforce investment boards, and in 16

health care safety net sites. 17

‘‘(C) Prepare individuals to more effectively 18

provide health services to underserved areas and 19

health disparity populations through field place- 20

ments or preceptorships in conjunction with 21

community-based organizations, accredited pri- 22

mary care residency training programs, Feder- 23

ally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, 24

public health departments, or other appropriate 1

facilities. 2

‘‘(D) Conduct and participate in inter- 3

disciplinary training that involves physicians, 4

physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse 5

midwives, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, 6

optometrists, community health workers, public 7

and allied health professionals, or other health 8

professionals, as practicable. 9

‘‘(E) Deliver or facilitate continuing edu- 10

cation and information dissemination programs 11

for health care professionals, with an emphasis 12

on individuals providing care in underserved 13

areas and for health disparity populations. 14

‘‘(F) Propose and implement effective pro- 15

gram and outcomes measurement and evaluation 16

strategies. 17

‘‘(G) Establish a youth public health pro- 18

gram to expose and recruit high school students 19

into health careers, with a focus on careers in 20

public health. 21

‘‘(2) INNOVATIVE OPPORTUNITIES.—An eligible

entity may use amounts awarded under a grant 23

under subsection (a)(1) or subsection (a)(2) to carry 24

out any of the following activities: 25

‘‘(A) Develop and implement innovative 1

curricula in collaboration with community-based 2

accredited primary care residency training pro- 3

grams, Federally qualified health centers, rural 4

health clinics, behavioral and mental health fa- 5

cilities, public health departments, or other ap- 6

propriate facilities, with the goal of increasing 7

the number of primary care physicians and 8

other primary care providers prepared to serve 9

in underserved areas and health disparity popu- 10

lations. 11

‘‘(B) Coordinate community-based 12

participatory research with academic health cen- 13

ters, and facilitate rapid flow and dissemination 14

of evidence-based health care information, re- 15

search results, and best practices to improve 16

quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health 17

care and health care systems within community 18

settings. 19

‘‘(C) Develop and implement other strate- 20

gies to address identified workforce needs and in- 21

crease and enhance the health care workforce in 22

the area served by the area health education cen- 23

ter program. 24

‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—

‘‘(1) AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER PRO-

GRAM.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary

shall ensure the following: 3

‘‘(A) An entity that receives an award 4

under this section shall conduct at least 10 per- 5

cent of clinical education required for medical 6

students in community settings that are removed 7

from the primary teaching facility of the con- 8

tracting institution for grantees that operate a 9

school of medicine or osteopathic medicine. In 10

States in which an entity that receives an award 11

under this section is a nursing school or its par- 12

ent institution, the Secretary shall alternatively 13

ensure that— 14

‘‘(i) the nursing school conducts at 15

least 10 percent of clinical education re- 16

quired for nursing students in community 17

settings that are remote from the primary 18

teaching facility of the school; and 19

‘‘(ii) the entity receiving the award 20

maintains a written agreement with a 21

school of medicine or osteopathic medicine 22

to place students from that school in train- 23

ing sites in the area health education center 24

program area. 25

‘‘(B) An entity receiving funds under sub- 1

section (a)(2) does not distribute such funding to 2

a center that is eligible to receive funding under 3

subsection (a)(1). 4

‘‘(2) AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER.—The

Secretary shall ensure that each area health education 6

center program includes at least 1 area health edu- 7

cation center, and that each such center— 8

‘‘(A) is a public or private organization 9

whose structure, governance, and operation is 10

independent from the awardee and the parent 11

institution of the awardee; 12

‘‘(B) is not a school of medicine or osteo- 13

pathic medicine, the parent institution of such a 14

school, or a branch campus or other subunit of 15

a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine or 16

its parent institution, or a consortium of such 17

entities; 18

‘‘(C) designates an underserved area or pop- 19

ulation to be served by the center which is in a 20

location removed from the main location of the 21

teaching facilities of the schools participating in 22

the program with such center and does not du- 23

plicate, in whole or in part, the geographic area 24

or population served by any other center; 25

‘‘(D) fosters networking and collaboration 1

among communities and between academic 2

health centers and community-based centers; 3

‘‘(E) serves communities with a dem- 4

onstrated need of health professionals in partner- 5

ship with academic medical centers; 6

‘‘(F) addresses the health care workforce 7

needs of the communities served in coordination 8

with the public workforce investment system; and 9

‘‘(G) has a community-based governing or 10

advisory board that reflects the diversity of the 11

communities involved. 12

‘‘(e) MATCHING FUNDS.—With respect to the costs of

operating a program through a grant under this section, 14

to be eligible for financial assistance under this section, an 15

entity shall make available (directly or through contribu- 16

tions from State, county or municipal governments, or the 17

private sector) recurring non-Federal contributions in cash 18

or in kind, toward such costs in an amount that is equal 19

to not less than 50 percent of such costs. At least 25 percent 20

of the total required non-Federal contributions shall be in 21

cash. An entity may apply to the Secretary for a waiver 22

of not more than 75 percent of the matching fund amount 23

required by the entity for each of the first 3 years the entity 24

is funded through a grant under subsection (a)(1). 25

‘‘(f) LIMITATION.—Not less than 75 percent of the total

amount provided to an area health education center pro- 2

gram under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2) shall be allocated 3

to the area health education centers participating in the 4

program under this section. To provide needed flexibility 5

to newly funded area health education center programs, the 6

Secretary may waive the requirement in the sentence for 7

the first 2 years of a new area health education center pro- 8

gram funded under subsection (a)(1). 9

‘‘(g) AWARD.—An award to an entity under this sec-

tion shall be not less than $250,000 annually per area 11

health education center included in the program involved. 12

If amounts appropriated to carry out this section are not 13

sufficient to comply with the preceding sentence, the Sec- 14

retary may reduce the per center amount provided for in 15

such sentence as necessary, provided the distribution estab- 16

lished in subsection (j)(2) is maintained. 17

‘‘(h) PROJECTTERMS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-

graph (2), the period during which payments may be 20

made under an award under subsection (a)(1) may 21

not exceed— 22

‘‘(A) in the case of a program, 12 years; or 23

‘‘(B) in the case of a center within a pro- 24

gram, 6 years. 25

‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The periods described in

paragraph (1) shall not apply to programs receiving 2

point of service maintenance and enhancement 3

awards under subsection (a)(2) to maintain existing 4

centers and activities. 5

‘‘(i) INAPPLICABILITY OF PROVISION.—Notwith-

standing any other provision of this title, section 791(a) 7

shall not apply to an area health education center funded 8

under this section. 9

‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be ap-

propriated to carry out this section $125,000,000 for 12

each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 13

‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Of the amounts appro-

priated for a fiscal year under paragraph (1)— 15

‘‘(A) not more than 35 percent shall be used 16

for awards under subsection (a)(1); 17

‘‘(B) not less than 60 percent shall be used 18

for awards under subsection (a)(2); 19

‘‘(C) not more than 1 percent shall be used 20

for grants and contracts to implement outcomes 21

evaluation for the area health education centers; 22

and 23

‘‘(D) not more than 4 percent shall be used 24

for grants and contracts to provide technical as- 25

sistance to entities receiving awards under this 1

section. 2

‘‘(3) CARRYOVER FUNDS.—An entity that re-

ceives an award under this section may carry over 4

funds from 1 fiscal year to another without obtaining 5

approval from the Secretary. In no case may any 6

funds be carried over pursuant to the preceding sen- 7

tence for more than 3 years. 8

‘‘(k) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con-

gress that every State have an area health education center 10

program in effect under this section.’’. 11

(b) CONTINUING EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FOR HEALTH

PROFESSIONALS SERVING IN UNDERSERVED COMMU-

NITIES.—Part D of title VII of the Public Health Service

Act (42 U.S.C. 294 et seq.) is amended by striking section 15

752 and inserting the following: 16

In document TITLE V HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE Subtitle A Purpose and Definitions (Page 148-159)