Health Professions Education and Distribution Act of 1980

Summary

Health Professions Training and Distribution Act of 1980 - Reaffirms the Federal Government's partnership with the nation's health professions schools and students so that, with Federal assistance: (1) all Americans can be assured equal opportunities to enter a health career; (2) all Americans can be assured equal access to qualified health professions personnel; and (3) the health professions schools, as a national resource, can assist in accomplishing these objectives. States that amendments made by this Act shall take effect October 1, 1980. Title I: Health Personnel Training and Distribution - Redesignates title VII of the Public Health Service Act as "Health Personnel Training and Distribution". Sets forth the general duties of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (formerly, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare), under Title VII, including: (1) health personnel training; (2) health personnel geographic and specialty distribution; (3) providing equal career opportunities; (4) assuring delivery of health care; and (5) maximizing the cost effectiveness of health education, training, and services. Renames the National Advisory Council on Health Professions Education the National Advisory Council on Health Personnel. Expands such Council from 21 to 23 members, and expands from 12 to 13 the number of members from the health professions schools. Includes within such membership: a representative from an allied health training center; and permits the inclusion of interns or residents. Revises provisions requiring the Secretary to compile health personnel. Revises related reporting requirements, including: (1) a general status report every two years (presently annual reports); and (2) status reports every two years on students in health training, teachers and teaching facilities, and minorities. Sets forth guidelines regarding the confidentiality of individually identifiable personal data, including: (1) informing any individual asked to supply such data whether or not he or she is legally required to do so, and of any consequences of providing or not providing such information; (2) making such data available upon request to the individual concerned; (3) assuring that nonrelated use of such data is not made, unless consent has been given by the individual concerned; (4) informing an individual, upon request, of the use being made of such data, and the identity of the individuals and entities receiving such data. Prohibits any entity which maintains a record of personal data from complying with a request from the Secretary for such data without first getting the consent of the individual concerned. Prohibits the Secretary from disclosing personal data (other than to the individual concerned) unless: (1) such individual requires the information for purposes of this Act; or (2) the information is requested by a compulsory legal process. Requires the Secretary to notify the individual concerned of any such disclosure demand. Exempts the Secretary from specified coordination of Federal reporting requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance in carrying out programs under Title VII. Prohibits grants for the construction of teaching facilities in hospitals or outpatient facilities. Expands the definition of "ambulatory, primary care teaching facilities" for purposes of such grants presently limited to those facilities training physicians and dentists). Authorizes specified sums for fiscal years 1981 through 1983 for: (1) construction of teaching facilities for medical and public health personnel; and (2) ambulatory, primary care teaching facilities. Transfers grant application approval authority from the Commissioner of Education to the Secretary of Education. Eliminates the prevention of curtailment of a school's enrollment as a factor which must be taken into account in considering an application for a grant supporting a project for replacement or rehabilitation of existing facilities. States that for fiscal years 1981 and 1982, priority shall be given for construction projects for health profession schools expanding from two-year programs to degree granting programs, and for new schools anticipating predominantly minority enrollment. Removes the limitation on the amount of a grant which the Secretary may make for the construction of ambulatory, primary care teaching facilities. Subjects such grants to the limitations established for grants made for other projects. Authorizes the Secretary, upon the request of an applicant and after consultation with the National Advisory Council on Health Personnel, to reduce or eliminate any enrollment requirements imposed on grantees prior to October 1, 1980. Prohibits the promulgation of regulations which would provide for enrollment increases for eligibility purposes regarding construction loan guarantees or interest subsidies. Repeals the specific authority of the Secretary to provide technical assistance for such construction. Extends the program of construction loan guarantees and interest subsidies until September 30, 1983 (presently September 30, 1980). Authorizes increased interest subsidies (six or seven percent rather than present three percent) for projects initially guaranteed or subsidized after October 1, 1980. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into new loan guarantee and interest subsidy agreements for construction projects for a cumulative total of principal equal to the amount authorized for grants under the construction program. Extends the Federal program of insured new loans to students in health professions schools to fiscal year 1983 (presently to fiscal year 1980). Extends the deadline for granting such insurance on any such loans or installments from September 30, 1982, to September 30, 1986. Increases yearly limitatiors and aggregate unpaid principal on individual Federally insured student loans from: (1) $10,000 to $15,000 and from $50,000 to $60,000, for medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, or public health; and (2) $7,500 to $10,000 and from $37,500 to $50,000, for pharmacy. Increases from $15,000 to $20,000 the additional limitations on such loans, and from $60,000 to $80,000 for the aggregate unpaid principal, for medicine, osteopathy, and dentistry. Extends eligibility for such loans to: (1) graduate students in health administration; (2) advanced nursing students; and (3) physician assistant or dental auxiliary training programs. Includes living expenses among the permissible uses of such loans. Removes the prohibition on concurrent borrowing under this Act and the guaranteed student loan program under the Higher Education Act, and replaces it with a prohibition on concurrent borrowing under this Act and the guaranteed student loan program under the Higher Education Act, and replaces it with a prohibition on concurrent borrowing under this Act and the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, the Indian Health Service Program, or the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program. Extends from three to four years specified periods exempted from principal installment payments (but not from interest accrual and payment). Adds a graduated repayment action and a variable interest option as parts of the written loan agreement. Replaces the maximum 12 percent interest on the unpaid principal balance of the loan with a rate not to exceed the average of the bond equivalent rates of the 91-day Treasury bills plus two percent. Eliminates the requirement that interest payments on insured loans must be made during deferment periods. Eliminates the Secretary's authority to enter into a written contract with a borrower to discharge a portion of his or her loan for service in a health manpower shortage area. Authorizes the Secretary to discharge a borrower's loan liability if such borrower: (1) failed to complete the first year of studies leading to a first professional degree; (2) is in exceptionally needy circumstances; (3) is from a low-income or disadvantaged family; and (4) has not resumed nor is expected to resume such studies within two years. Extends the health professions student loan program through fiscal year 1981. Limits such extension to senior students already receiving such loans. Revises the period for the capital distribution of such loan funds from September 30, 1983 through December 31, 1983, to September 30, 1981 through December 31, 1981. States that such funds shall be deposited in the Service Contingent Loan Fund established by this Act. Authorizes a loan program for students in schools of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, graduate health administration, and physician assistants or expanded function dental auxiliaries. Makes the terms of repayment of such a loan contingent on service in a "national priority position" as such position is described in this Act. Sets forth program provisions with regard to: (1) the required agreement with the institution; (2) student eligibility; (3) loan amounts (depending upon medical specialty); (4) loan agreement terms (installments, acceleration, loan interest); (5) deferral of principal and interest payments, with interest accrual, during periods of graduate training, armed forces service, VISTA or Peace Corps service, service in medically undeserved areas, or National Health Service Corps or Indian Health Service; and (6) national priority service as designated by, and at the option of, the Secretary. Establishes in the Treasury a Service Contingent Loan Fund in the Treasury to finance such program. Authorizes appropriations for such Fund ($10,000,000 for fiscal year 1982, $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1983, and thereafter as requested). Directs the Secretary to establish a Loan Discharge Fund to be used in connection with the discharge of loans to borrowers serving in optional national priority positions. Revises public health traineeship and other graduate grant provisions to: (1) require trainees to be United States citizens or permanent residents; (2) require traineeships to be distributed on the basis of the needs of the eligible students; (3) extend such grants through fiscal year 1983; and (4) remove the requirement that 65 percent of such traineeships go to students with post baccalaureate degrees or with three years of health services experience. Extends the National Health Service Corps scholarship program through fiscal year 1983. Includes receipt of a loan under the service contingency loan program established under this Act as a priority in making National Health Service Corps awards. Directs the Secretary to: (1) make 80 percent of the medicine and osteopathy awards in each State proportionate to the need for physicians in health manpower shortage areas in the State; and (2) approve scholarship applications by August 1 of each year, and to promptly notify the educational institutions of such scholarship approvals. Reorganizes the administration of the scholarship program, the National Health Service Corps programs, and the educational support programs under a single administrative unit. Makes the existing mandatory release of a National Health Service Corps scholarship recipient to fulfill his or her period of obligated service through an independent practice arrangement discretionary with the Secretary. Includes Public Health Service scholarship recipients (prior to October 1, 1977) within such option. Replaces the financial base requirement with one requiring a person serving under the independent practice option to agree to accept assignment under the medicare program. Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance to individuals serving under the independent practice option. Sets forth pay schedules (including malpractice insurance coverage) for such service. Makes such individuals eligible for special grants. Extends the National Health Service Corps Scholarship program through fiscal year 1983. Revises the medical specialties distribution of scholarships to require that at least 80 percent of such scholarships be given to medical and osteopathic students. Extends the program of financial need scholarships for first-year students through fiscal year 1983. Bases the distribution of scholarship funds on the proportionate enrollment of first-year students with exceptional financial need. Establishes a maximum award of the lesser of tuition and fees plus $2,500, or $5,000. Extends such program through fiscal year 1983. Eliminates the Lister Hill (family practice) scholarship program. Adds a new program of up to 80 percent loan repayment by the Secretary if the student serves for up to four years in a health manpower shortage area. Eliminates the health professions capitation grant program. Establishes a program of national priority incentive grants to schools of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, pharmacy, podiatry, and public health for programs and projects in the national interest. Sets forth: (1) application requirements; (2) grant formulas and enrollment and tuition incentives; and (3) enrollment determinations. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for fiscal years 1981 through 1983. Expands the scope of the existing family medicine grant program. Extends such program through fiscal year 1983. Stipulates that at least ten percent of funds available in each fiscal year shall be used to develop programs to train physicians who will teach family medicine. Extends the area health education center program through fiscal year 1983, and directs that priority be given to programs that will serve an entire State. Extends the program for the training of physician assistants through fiscal year 1983, and adds a traineeship authority. Sets forth participation requirements for such traineeships. Extends the program for training in primary care internal medicine and pediatrics through fiscal year 1983, and adds authority for faculty development to such program. Replaces the existing family medicine and general dentistry grant program with a dental education grant program for: (1) training expanded function dental auxiliaries; (2) training dental students in the organization and management of dental teams; and (3) operating dental residency programs and providing financial assistance to such residents. Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1983. Expands and extends through fiscal year 1983 the program of aiding minority and disadvantaged persons in entering the health professions. Stipulates that at least 75 percent of such funds in each fiscal year shall be for grants or contracts to institutions of higher education. Authorizes funds for start-up costs for those schools of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, public health, veterinary medicine, optometry, pharmacy, and podiatry receiving support prior to October 1, 1980. Extends the financial distress grant program through fiscal year 1985. Makes nursing schools eligible for such grants, but restricts such eligibility to not more than three consecutive years. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements for up to five years with financially-troubled health professions schools in medically undeserved areas. Sets forth conditions for such grant, including disclosure requirements. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for projects related to the enrollment of students who will serve in medically undeserved areas, or to provide training in such areas. Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1983. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make a single grant to any private two-year medical school to assist such school in converting to an accredited degree granting institution; (2) make grants through fiscal year 1983 to support training including residency training, in preventive or community medicine or dentistry, including occupational medicine; (3) make grants through fiscal year 1983 for special curricular offerings and projects related to optometry, podiatry, pharmarcy, and veterinary medicine; (4) make grants through fiscal year 1983 to support training in nutrition, geriatrics, rehabilitation, and the containment of health care costs; (5) make grants for projects to increase the participation and advancement of women in health careers; and (6) make grants to conduct research and demonstration projects. Revises and extends through fiscal year 1983 training programs in public health, health administration, and allied health. Adds cost-sharing and cost-containment requirements for health administration programs. Requires the Secretary to consult with the National Advisory Council on Health Personnel prior to awarding specified grants in such areas. Repeals existing provisions concerning: (1) statistical and annual reporting requirements of the Secretary; (2) advanced traineeships in allied health; and (3) educational assistance to disadvantaged individuals in allied health training. Title II: Nurse Education Amendments - Nurse Education Amendments of 1980 - Extends the grant programs for nursing facilities construction, loan guarantees, and interest subsidies through fiscal year 1983. Lessens existing restrictions on new project interest subsidy payments. Extends authorizations beyond fiscal year 1980 for the Treasury loan guarantee and interest subsidy fund. Replaces the capitation grant program with a program of national priority incentive grants to support educational and other related projects in the national interest. Sets forth: (1) enrollment provisions; (2) matching non-Federal funding requirements; (3) application requirements; and (4) grant computation formulas, including increases to any type of nursing school for (a) increased enrollment; (b) graduates working in medically undeserved areas; (c) increased minority enrollment; or (d) providing registered nurses with the opportunity to complete a nursing degree. Provides for a decrease in grant funds if enrollment decreases. Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1983. Repeals existing financial distress assistance provisions (nursing schools made eligible under title I of this Act). Amends the nursing special project grant program, including: (1) eliminating funds for mergers; (2) adding the requirement that at least 20 percent of appropriated funds be used for projects related to the geographic or specialty distribution of nurses and requiring that at least 20 percent of appropriated funds be used for projects to increase nursing opportunities for minority and disadvantaged persons. Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1983. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants through fiscal year 1983 for clinical and practical nursing education projects. Extends the advanced nurse training programs through fiscal year 1983. Requires the Secretary to establish by March 31, 1981, criteria for designating areas, facilities, or organizations as nurse shortage areas. Sets forth factors to be used in making such determinations. Requires the Secretary to provide written notice of the designation of a nurse shortage area to: (1) the chief administrative officer of the organization; (2) the Governor of each State in which the area, organization, or facility is located; (3) the concerned (a) health systems agency; (b) State health planning and development agency; or (c) public or private entity. Authorizes the Secretary to make such designation available to: (1) the public; (2) concerned or interested entities. Extends nurse traineeship programs in advanced training and anesthesiology through fiscal year 1983. Limits the nursing student loan program in fiscal year 1981 to senior students completing their education. Distributes the capital in the loan fund (established by each school) to the Service Contingent Loan Fund (established by this Act). Repeals the provisions authorizing money to be transferred between the nursing student loan program and the nursing scholarship program. Extends the nursing scholarship program through fiscal year 1986. Stipulates that grants shall be ratably reduced dependent upon the amount of appropriations. Title III: National Health Service Corps Program - Requires the Secretary to provide for training of National Health Service Corps Scholarship recipients to prepare them for service in medically undeserved areas. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements for such training. Requires the Secretary to first seek an obligated scholarship recipient who received his or her training in the undeserved area's State before assigning a Corps member to a health manpower shortage area (other than certain medical facilities). Extends the National Health Service Corps program through fiscal year 1983.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

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

Documents

3 official files

• Indefinitely postponed in Senate

  summary · EN · 19 September 1980

  Open at official source

• Reported to Senate with amendment(s)

  summary · EN · 12 September 1980

  Open at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 4 March 1980

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.