119-hr935

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 935 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 935

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a health care 
 workforce innovation program.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 4, 2025

 Mr. Garbarino (for himself, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Valadao, and Ms. Craig) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a health care 
 workforce innovation program.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Health Care Workforce Innovation Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE INNOVATION PROGRAM.

 

Section 755

    (b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294e

    (b) ) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (5)
        (A) Supporting and developing new innovative, 
 community-driven approaches for the education and training of 
 allied health professionals, including those described in 
 subparagraph
        (F)
            (i) , with an emphasis on expanding the supply 
 of such professionals located in, and meeting the needs of, 
 underserved communities and rural areas. Grants or contracts 
 under this paragraph shall be awarded through a new program 
 (referred to as the `Health Care Workforce Innovation Program' 
 or in this paragraph as the `Program').
 ``
        (B) To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under 
 the Program an entity shall--
 ``
            (i) be a Federally qualified health center (as 
 defined in 

section 1905
            (l) (2)
        (B) of the Social Security 
 Act), a State-level association or other consortium 
 that represents and is comprised of Federally qualified 
 health centers, a certified rural health clinic that 
 meets the requirements of 

section 334, or an 
 accredited, nonprofit post-secondary vocational program 
 that trains allied health professionals to work in 
 primary care settings; and
 ``
            (ii) submit to the Secretary an application that, 
 at a minimum, contains--
 ``
            (I) a description of how all trainees 
 will be trained in accredited training programs 
 either directly or through partnerships with 
 public or nonprofit private entities, such as 
 schools of allied health;
 ``
            (II) a description of the community-
 driven health care workforce innovation model 
 to be carried out under the grant or contract, 
 including the specific allied health 
 professions to be funded;
 ``
            (III) the geographic service area that 
 will be served, including quantitative data, if 
 available, showing that such particular area 
 faces a shortage of allied health professionals 
 and lacks access to health care;
 ``
            (IV) a description of the benefits 
 provided to each health care professional 
 trained under the proposed model during the 
 education and training phase;
 ``
            (V) a description of the experience that 
 the applicant has in the recruitment, 
 retention, and promotion of the well-being of 
 workers and volunteers;
 ``
            (VI) a description of how the funding 
 awarded under the Program will supplement 
 rather than supplant existing funding;
 ``
            (VII) a description of the scalability 
 and replicability of the community-driven 
 approach to be funded under the Program;
 ``
            (VIII) a description of the 
 infrastructure, outreach and communication 
 plan, and other program support costs required 
 to operationalize the proposed model; and
 ``
            (IX) any other information, as the 
 Secretary determines appropriate.
 ``
            (C) 
            (i) An entity shall use amounts received under a grant 
 or contract awarded under the Program to carry out the 
 innovative, community-driven model described in the application 
 under subparagraph
        (B) . Such amounts may be used for launching 
 new or expanding existing innovative health care professional 
 partnerships, including the following specific uses:
 ``
            (I) Establishing or expanding a partnership 
 between such entity and 1 or more high schools, 
 accredited public or nonprofit private vocational-
 technical schools, accredited public or nonprofit 
 private 2-year colleges, area health education centers, 
 and entities with clinical settings for the provision 
 of education and training opportunities not available 
 at the grantee's facilities.
 ``
            (II) Providing education and training programs to 
 improve allied health professionals' readiness in 
 settings that serve underserved communities and rural 
 areas; encouraging students from underserved and 
 disadvantaged backgrounds and former patients to 
 consider careers in health care, and better reflecting 
 and meeting community needs; providing education and 
 training programs for individuals to work in patient-
 centered, team-based, community-driven health care 
 models that include integration with other clinical 
 practitioners and training in cultural and linguistic 
 competence; providing pre-apprenticeship and 
 apprenticeship programs for health care technical, 
 support, and entry-level occupations, particularly for 
 those enrolled in dual or concurrent enrollment 
 programs; building a preceptorship training-to-practice 
 model for medical, behavioral health, oral health, and 
 public health disciplines in an integrated, community-
 driven setting; providing and expanding internships, 
 career ladders, and development opportunities for 
 health care professionals, including new and existing 
 staff; or investing in training equipment, supplies, 
 and limited renovations or retrofitting of training 
 space needed for grantees to carry out their particular 
 model.
 ``
            (ii) Amounts received under a grant or contract awarded 
 under the Program shall not be used to support construction 
 costs or to supplant funding from existing programs that 
 support the applicant's health workforce.
 ``
            (iii) Models funded under the Program shall be for a 
 duration of at least 3 years.
 ``
            (D) In awarding grants or contracts under the Program, 
 the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that will use 
 grant or contract funds to support workforce innovation models 
 that increase the number of individuals from underserved and 
 disadvantaged backgrounds working in such health care 
 professions, improve access to health care (including medical, 
 behavioral health and oral health) in underserved communities, 
 or demonstrate that the model can be replicated in other 
 underserved communities in a cost-efficient and effective 
 manner to achieve the purposes of the Program.
 ``
        (E) An entity that receives a grant or contract under the 
 Program shall provide periodic reports to the Secretary 
 detailing the findings and outcomes of the innovative, 
 community-driven model carried out under the grant. Such 
 reports shall contain information in a manner and at such times 
 as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
 ``
        (F) In this paragraph:
 ``
            (i) The term `allied health professional' 
 includes individuals who provide clinical support 
 services, including medical assistants, dental 
 assistants, dental hygienists, dental therapists, 
 pharmacy technicians, physical therapists, physical 
 therapist assistants, and health care interpreters; 
 individuals providing non-clinical support, such as 
 billing and coding professionals and health information 
 technology professionals; dieticians; medical 
 technologists; emergency medical technicians; community 
 health workers; health education specialists; health 
 care paraprofessionals; and peer support specialists.
 ``
            (ii) The term `rural area' has the meaning given 
 such term by the Administrator of the Health Resources 
 and Services Administration.
 ``
            (iii) The term `underserved communities' means 
 areas, population groups, and facilities designated as 
 health professional shortage areas under 

section 332, 
 medically underserved areas as defined under 

section 330I

    (a) , or medically underserved populations as 
 defined under 

section 330

    (b)

    (3) .
 ``
        (G)
            (i) There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 
 as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2028, 
 to carry out this paragraph, to remain available until 
 expended.
 ``
            (ii) A grant or contract provided under the Program shall 
 not exceed $2,500,000 for a grant period.''.
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