RURAL HEALTH MEDICAL EDUCATION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

SEC. 4038. RURAL HEALTH MEDICAL EDUCATION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. (a) In General.— The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) shall enter into agreements with four sponsoring hospitals submitting applications under this subsection to conduct demonstration projects to assist resident physicians in developing field clinical experience in rural areas. (b) Nature of Project.— Under a demonstration project conducted under subsection (a), a sponsoring hospital entering into an agreement with the Secretary under such subsection shall enter into arrangements with a small rural hospital to provide to such rural hospital, for a period of one to three months of training, physicians (in such number as the agreement under subsection (a) may provide) who have completed one year of residency training. 101 STAT. 1330–81 (c) Selection.— In selecting from among applications submitted under subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that four small rural hospitals located in different counties participate in the demonstration project and that— (1) two of such hospitals are located in rural counties of more than 2,700 square miles (one of which is east of the Mississippi River and one of which is west of such river); and (2) two of such hospitals are located in rural counties with (as determined by the Secretary) a severe shortage of physicians (one of which is east of the Mississippi River and one of which is west of such river). (d) Clarification of Payment.— For purposes of section 1886 of the Social Security Act— (1) with respect to subsection (d)(5)(B) of such section, any resident physician participating in the project under subsection (a) for any part of a year shall be treated as if he or she were working at the appropriate sponsoring hospital with an agreement under subsection (a) on September 1 of such year (and shall not be treated as if working at the small rural hospital); and (2) with respect to subsection (h) of such section, the payment amount permitted under such subsection for a sponsoring hospital with an agreement under subsection (a) shall be increased (for the duration of the project only) by an amount equal to the amount of any direct graduate medical education costs (as defined in paragraph (5) of such subsection (h)) incurred by such hospital in supervising the education and training activities under a project under subsection (a). (e) Duration of Project.— Each demonstration project under subsection (a) shall be commenced not later than six months after the date of enactment of this Act and shall be conducted for a period of three years. (f) Definition.— In this section, the term “sponsoring hospital” means a hospital that receives payments under sections 1886(d)(5)(B) and 1886(h) of the Social Security Act.