Health Professions Reauthorization Act of 1988

Summary

Health Professions Reauthorization Act of 1988 - Amends title VII (Health Research and Teaching Facilities and Training of Professional Health Personnel) of the Public Health Service Act to set ceilings for FY 1989 through 1991 on the total principal amount of new loans made and installments paid to borrowers covered by Federal loan insurance. Extends from September 30, 1991, to September 30, 1994, the cutoff date for the making of new loans. Requires that the total principal amount of Federal loan insurance available be granted without regard to any apportionment or other similar limitation. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in providing loan insurance certificates, to give priority to lenders that agree to make loans at interest rates below the prevailing rates or otherwise under terms more favorable to the student than the terms generally available. Expands eligibility for the loans to include students in a postdoctoral program or residency of at least one year in certain fields. Places a limit on the total amount of the loans made to such a student in any academic year. Requires interest on federally insured student loans under title VII to be compounded not more frequently than semiannually. (Current law requires the interest to be compounded semiannually.) Prohibits provisions relating to the eligibility of student borrowers from being construed to limit the authority of any school to make allowances for students with special circumstances. Allows a lender to assign its insurance rights to a public entity in the business of purchasing student loans. Declares that lenders as well as holders are required to exercise reasonable care in the making of loans and substantial effort in collection. Requires a lender, subject to exception, to prosecute an action for default. Directs the Secretary to make or deny payment within 60 days of notification of entry of judgment. Declares that provisions dealing with standards regarding loan collection may not be construed to require schools to reimburse the student loan for loans that became uncollectable prior to 1983. Reduces the required interest rate on the loans from nine percent to five percent. Adds to the list of periods excluded from the ten-year repayment period any time during which the borrower is pursuing a full-time course of study at certain types of schools. Requires, if a school terminates a loan fund, a capital distribution. (Current law requires a capital distribution between September 30, 1991, and December 31, 1991.) Requires scholarships under provisions relating to first-year students in exceptional financial need to cover not less than 50 percent of tuition and educational expenses and 100 percent of the monthly stipend. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for capitation grants for schools of public health for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for project grants to establish, maintain, or improve departments of family medicine for FY 1989 through 1991. Reduces from six to four the number of individuals who must be enrolled in first-year positions in internship or medical residency training programs in area health education centers. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991 for area health education center programs. Directs the Secretary to enter into contracts for developing and operating health education and training centers to improve the supply, distribution, quality, and efficiency of personnel providing health services: (1) in the United States along the border with Mexico; and (2) to any population group having serious unmet health care needs. Directs the Secretary to designate the geographic area in which each health education and training center will operate. Mandates that each applicant agree to establish an advisory group, develop a plan for carrying out the center's purpose, and be responsible for the evaluation of the program. Directs the Secretary to make available 50 percent of the amounts appropriated for allocation to border centers. Authorizes appropriations for contracts for border and other health education and training centers for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991 for: (1) programs for physician assistants; (2) grants for training, traineeships, and fellowships in general internal medicine and general pediatrics; (3) residency programs in the general practice of dentistry; and (4) training and education relating to family medicine. Allows grants and contracts for health professions educational assistance to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to be used for stipends for education at any public or private nonprofit health or educational entity. (Current law limits stipends to use for health professions education at a school of medicine, osteopathy, or dentistry.) Authorizes appropriations for educational assistance to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991 for two-year schools of medicine, interdisciplinary training, and curriculum development. Requires that any grants approved, under provisions relating to the areas of family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, or dentistry, for a third or subsequent fiscal year be for at least 25 percent of the average grant to that grantee in the consecutively preceding fiscal years. Requires grant applications in such areas to be submitted to peer review groups. Directs the Secretary to establish peer review groups as necessary. Prohibits approval of an application unless a peer review group has recommended approval. Directs the Secretary to make available with respect to Hispanic individuals at least ten percent of amounts appropriated to carry out provisions relating to scholarships for first-year students of exceptional financial need, programs for physician assistants, educational assistance to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and allied health personnel. Requires that studies mandated by current law of health professionals by specialty and geographic location include studies of the number, supply, and requirements for: (1) health professionals who are members of minority groups, including Hispanics; and (2) health professionals to serve minority groups, including Hispanics. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study and report to the Congress regarding Hispanics in medically underserved areas and: (1) health care provided by individuals unable to communicate in the most appropriate language and cultural context; and (2) reliance on allied health personnel as the primary source of health care. Reduces and makes equal for all programs, regardless of their level of minority enrollment, the number of students who must complete a graduate program in health administration during the year the grant is received in order for the program to be eligible for the grant. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991 for: (1) traineeships for students in graduate programs in health administration, hospital administration, or health policy analysis and planning; (2) public health traineeships; and (3) training in preventive medicine. Replaces provisions relating to advanced financial distress assistance to health professions schools with provisions authorizing the Secretary to make grants to and enter into contracts with health professions schools with regard to health care needs, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention relating to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Adds schools of podiatric medicine to the list of entities eligible for grants and contracts for geriatric medicine and geriatric dentistry projects. Directs the Secretary to identify and notify entities that would be appropriate applicants for grants under provisions relating to two-year schools of medicine. Prohibits any program of research under the Public Health Service Act which was carried out, or was appropriate to be carried out, by an agency other than the Health Resources and Services Administration in FY 1987 from being carried out by such Administration for each of the FY 1989 through 1991. Directs the Secretary to solicit applications for grants under provisions relating to family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and dentistry at least twice a year, leaving time for applications not approved, or approved but not made because of lack of funds, to be resubmitted pursuant to the second solicitation. Requires a preliminary review of applications for technical sufficiency, with an opportunity to submit a timely second application. Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a program in which health professionals agree to conduct, at the National Institutes of Health, research with respect to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in return for payment by the Federal Government of at least 25 percent of their educational loans for each year of service. Makes provisions of the Public Health Service Act relating to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, except as inconsistent, apply to the program. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989 through 1991. Requires that certain funds appropriated for National Research Service Awards be made available to the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration. (Current law does not specify to whom the funds are to be made available.)

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Timeline

1. 7 July 1988

   Introduced

   Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 7 July 1988

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

3. 7 July 1988

   Introduced

   Introduced in House

   Source: IntroReferral

4. 9 August 1988

   Reported

   Ordered to be Reported (Amended).

   Source: Committee

5. 9 August 1988

   Committee

   Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

   Source: Committee

6. 8 September 1988

   Calendars

   Placed on Union Calendar No: 529.

   Source: Calendars

7. 8 September 1988

   Reported

   Reported to House (Amended) by House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Report No: 100-892.

   Source: Committee

8. 8 September 1988

   Reported

   Reported to House (Amended) by House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Report No: 100-892.

   Source: Committee

9. 20 September 1988

   Passed

   Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.

   Source: Floor

10. 20 September 1988

    Passed

    Passed/agreed to in House: Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.

    Source: Floor

11. 20 September 1988

    Floor

    Called up by House Under Suspension of Rules.

    Source: Floor

12. 22 September 1988

    Introduced

    Received in the Senate.

    Source: IntroReferral

13. 21 October 1988

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

    Source: IntroReferral

14. 4 November 1988

    Committee

    For Further Action See S.2889.

    Source: Committee

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

2 official files

• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 20 September 1988

  Open at official source

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 7 July 1988

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Rep. Waxman, Henry A. [D-CA-24] · D · Sponsor
• Rep. Madigan, Edward R. [R-IL-21] · R · Sponsor
• Rep. Wolpe, Howard E. [D-MI-3] · D · Cosponsor
• · sshr00 · Standing
• · hsif00 · Standing

Related records

• related to ← Health Omnibus Extension of 1988