Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act

12/30/2022, 4:04 AM

Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act

This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 and makes changes to the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (a program that awards student loan repayment to individuals with qualifying degrees who commit to work full-time for a federal, state, tribal, or local public health agency for a period of obligated service).

Changes to the program include increasing the maximum repayment amount; eliminating the option for individuals to complete the service obligation in a federal public health agency; and expanding the scope of qualifying degrees to cover, for example, those in statistics, computer science, and programs related to information technology.

In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services may take actions to equitably distribute awards across geographic regions, among jurisdictional levels, and between urban and rural areas.

The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct an evaluation of the public health workforce.

Congress
117

Number
S - 3506

Introduced on
2022-01-13

# Amendments
0

Sponsors
+5

Cosponsors
+5

Variations and Revisions

1/13/2022

Status of Legislation

Bill Introduced
Introduced to House
House to Vote
Introduced to Senate
Senate to Vote

Purpose and Summary

Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act

This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 and makes changes to the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (a program that awards student loan repayment to individuals with qualifying degrees who commit to work full-time for a federal, state, tribal, or local public health agency for a period of obligated service).

Changes to the program include increasing the maximum repayment amount; eliminating the option for individuals to complete the service obligation in a federal public health agency; and expanding the scope of qualifying degrees to cover, for example, those in statistics, computer science, and programs related to information technology.

In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services may take actions to equitably distribute awards across geographic regions, among jurisdictional levels, and between urban and rural areas.

The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct an evaluation of the public health workforce.

Alternative Names
Official Title as IntroducedA bill to strengthen the public health workforce loan repayment program, and for other purposes.

Policy Areas
Health

Potential Impact
Cardiovascular and respiratory health
Congressional oversight
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Employee hiring
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government lending and loan guarantees
Government studies and investigations
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Higher education
Infectious and parasitic diseases
Medical education
Student aid and college costs

Comments

Recent Activity

Latest Summary5/12/2022

Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act

This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 and makes changes to the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (a program that awards student loan repayment to individuals with qualifying...


Latest Action1/13/2022
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.