IMPROVING RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF THE FRONTLINE PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE.

SEC. 2221. IMPROVING RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF THE FRONTLINE PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE.(a) In General.—Section 776 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295f–1) is amended—(1) in subsection (a)—(A) by striking “supply of” and inserting “supply of, and encourage recruitment and retention of,”; and (B) by striking “Federal,”; (2) in subsection (b)—(A) by amending paragraph (1)(A) to read as follows:“(1)(A)(i) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a student in an accredited institution of higher education or school of public health in the final semester (or equivalent) of a program leading to a certificate or degree, including a master’s or doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, laboratory sciences, data systems, data science, data analytics, informatics, statistics, or another subject matter related to public health; and “(ii) be employed by, or have accepted employment with, a State, local, or Tribal public health agency, or a related training fellowship at such State, local, or Tribal public health agency, as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon graduation; or” ; and (B) in paragraph (1)(B)—(i) in clause (i)—(I) by striking “accredited educational institution in a State or territory” and inserting “accredited institution of higher education or school of public health”; and (II) by striking “a public health or health professions degree or certificate” and inserting “a certificate or degree, including a master’s or doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, laboratory sciences, data systems, data science, data analytics, informatics, statistics, or another subject matter related to public health”; and (ii) in clause (ii)—(I) by striking “Federal,”; and (II) by striking “fellowship,” and inserting “fellowship at such State, local, or Tribal public health agency,”; (3) in subsection (c)(2)—(A) by striking “Federal,”; and (B) by striking “equal to the greater of—” and all that follows through the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting “of at least 3 consecutive years;”; (4) in subsection (d)—(A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:“(1) In general.—A loan repayment provided for an individual under a written contract under the Program shall consist of payment, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the outstanding principal and interest on education loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant 136 STAT. 5742 degree or certificate described in subsection (b)(1) in accordance with the terms of the contract.” ; and (B) in paragraph (2)—(i) by striking “For each year” and inserting the following:“(A) In general.—For each year” ; (ii) by striking “$35,000” and inserting “$50,000”; (iii) by striking “$105,000” and inserting “$150,000”; and (iv) by adding at the end the following:“(B) Considerations.—The Secretary may take action in making awards under this section to ensure that—“(i) an appropriate proportion of contracts are awarded to individuals who are eligible to participate in the program pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A); and “(ii) contracts awarded under this section are equitably distributed among—“(I) the geographical regions of the United States; “(II) local, State, and Tribal public health departments; and “(III) such public health departments under subclause (II) serving rural and urban areas.” ; (5) in subsection (e), by striking “receiving a degree or certificate from a health professions or other related school” and inserting “with a contract to serve under subsection (c)”; (6) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following: “In the event that a participant fails to either begin or complete the obligated service requirement of the loan repayment contract under this section, the Secretary may waive or suspend either the unfulfilled service or the assessed damages as provided for under section 338E(d), as appropriate.”; (7) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (i); (8) by inserting after subsection (f) the following:“(g) Eligible Loans.—The loans eligible for repayment under this section are each of the following:“(1) Any loan for education or training for employment by a health department. “(2) Any loan under part E of title VIII (relating to nursing student loans). “(3) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolidation Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965). “(4) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. “(5) Any other Federal loan, as the Secretary determines appropriate. “(h) Pilot Program.—“(1) In general.—The Secretary shall, as appropriate, establish a pilot program, to be known as the Bio-Preparedness Workforce Pilot Program, to provide for loan repayment for health professionals with expertise in infectious diseases and emergency preparedness and response activities to ensure an adequate supply of such professionals. Such program shall be administered consistent with the requirements of this section, 136 STAT. 5743 except that, to be eligible to participate in the pilot program, an individual shall—“(A)(i) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a student in an accredited institution of higher education in the final semester (or equivalent) of a program leading to a health professions degree or certificate program relevant to such program; or “(ii) have graduated, during the preceding 10-year period, from an accredited institution of higher education with a health professions degree or certificate program relevant to such program; and “(B) be employed by, or have accepted employment with—“(i) a Federal health care facility; “(ii) a nonprofit health care facility that is located in a health professional shortage area (as defined in section 332), a frontier health professional shortage area (as defined in section 799B), or a medically underserved community (as defined in section 799B); “(iii) an entity receiving assistance under title XXVI for the provision of clinical services; “(iv) a health program, or a facility, operated by an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization (as those terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act) or by an urban Indian organization (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act); or “(v) another relevant entity determined appropriate by the Secretary, as a health professional with expertise in infectious diseases or emergency preparedness and response. “(2) Non-duplication of effort.—The Secretary shall ensure that the pilot program established under paragraph (1) does not unnecessarily duplicate the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, or any other loan repayment program operated by the Department of Health and Human Services. “(3) Evaluation and report to congress.—“(A) In general.—The Secretary shall evaluate the pilot program at the conclusion of the first cycle of recipients funded by the pilot program. “(B) Report.—“(i) In general.—The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on the evaluation under subparagraph (A). The report shall include, at a minimum, outcomes information from the pilot program, including any impact on recruitment and retention of health professionals with expertise in infectious diseases and emergency preparedness and response activities. “(ii) Recommendation.—The report under this subparagraph shall include a recommendation by the Secretary as to whether the pilot program under this subsection should be extended.” ;136 STAT. 5744 (9) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by striking “$195,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015” and inserting “$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2025”; and (10) by striking “tribal” each place such term appears and inserting “Tribal”. (b) GAO Study on Public Health Workforce.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall—(1) conduct an evaluation of what is known about the public health workforce in the United States, which shall address—(A) existing gaps in the Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health workforce, including positions that may be required to prepare for, and respond to, a public health emergency such as COVID–19; (B) challenges associated with the hiring, recruitment, and retention of the Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health workforce; and (C) Federal efforts to improve hiring, recruitment, and retention of the public health workforce; and (2) submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on such review.