I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1417
To expand and codify the Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program
of the Department of Agriculture and rename it as the Rural Health
Care Facility Technical Assistance Program.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY18, 2025
Mr. J
ACKSONof Texas (for himself and Ms. TOKUDA) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To expand and codify the Rural Hospital Technical Assist-
ance Program of the Department of Agriculture and
rename it as the Rural Health Care Facility Technical
Assistance Program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Health Care 4
Facility Technical Assistance Program Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 1417 IH
SEC. 2. EXPANSION AND CODIFICATION OF THE RURAL 1
HEALTH CARE FACILITY TECHNICAL ASSIST-2
ANCE PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 3
AGRICULTURE. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In lieu of any other authority 5
under which the Secretary of Agriculture (in this section 6
referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may provide technical as-7
sistance to any eligible health care facility, the Secretary 8
shall establish, and maintain, directly or by grant, con-9
tract, or cooperative agreement, a Rural Health Care Fa-10
cility Technical Assistance Program (in this section re-11
ferred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide technical assist-12
ance and training, tailored to the capacity and needs of 13
each eligible health care facility, to help eligible health care 14
facilities in rural areas— 15
(1) identify development needs for maintaining 16
essential health care services, and support action 17
plans for operational and quality improvement 18
projects to meet the development needs; 19
(2) better manage their financial and business 20
strategies, including providing financial planning as-21
sistance and preparing long-term financial plans; 22
and 23
(3) identify, and apply for assistance from, loan 24
and grant programs of the Department of Agri-25
culture for which the facilities are eligible. 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 1417 IH
(b) GOALS.—The goals of the Program shall be to— 1
(1) improve the long-term financial position and 2
operational efficiency of the eligible health care fa-3
cilities; 4
(2) prevent the closure of eligible health care 5
facilities; 6
(3) strengthen the delivery of health care in 7
rural areas; 8
(4) help eligible rural health care facilities bet-9
ter access and compete for loans and grants from 10
programs administered by the Department of Agri-11
culture; and 12
(5) continue the activities of the Rural Hospital 13
Technical Assistance Program in effect as of the 14
date of the enactment of this subsection. 15
(c) P
ROGRAMPARTICIPATION.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall engage 17
in outreach and engagement strategies to encourage 18
eligible health care facilities to participate in the 19
Program. 20
(2) E
LIGIBLE HEALTH CARE FACILITY SELEC -21
TION.—In selecting eligible health care facilities to 22
participate in the Program, the Secretary shall give 23
priority to borrowers and grantees of the Rural 24
Housing Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Serv-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 1417 IH
ice, and Rural Utilities Service. The Secretary may 1
also consider— 2
(A) the age and physical state of the 3
health care facility involved; 4
(B) the financial vulnerability of the eligi-5
ble health care facility, and the ability of the el-6
igible health care facility to meet debt obliga-7
tions; 8
(C) the electronic health record implemen-9
tation needs of the health care facility; 10
(D) whether the eligible health care facility 11
is located in a health professional shortage area 12
or a medically underserved area; 13
(E) whether the eligible health care facility 14
serves a medically underserved population; and 15
(F) such other criteria and priorities as 16
are determined by the Secretary. 17
(d) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 1 18
year after the date of the enactment of this section, and 19
annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 20
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives 21
and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For-22
estry of the Senate a written report describing the 23
progress and results of the program conducted under this 24
section, which should include— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 1417 IH
(1) a brief description of each project to provide 1
technical assistance to an eligible health care facility 2
under this section, including— 3
(A) the name and location of the facility; 4
(B) a description of the assistance pro-5
vided; 6
(C) a description of the outcomes for com-7
pleted projects; 8
(D) the cost of the technical assistance; 9
and 10
(E) any other information the Secretary 11
deems appropriate; 12
(2) a summary of the technical assistance 13
projects completed; 14
(3) a summary of the outcomes of the technical 15
assistance projects; 16
(4) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 17
Program; and 18
(5) recommendations for improving the Pro-19
gram. 20
(e) L
IMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO-21
PRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are author-22
ized to be appropriated to the Secretary not more than 23
$2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030. 24
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 1417 IH
(1) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 1
the meaning given the term in section 343(a)(13)(A) 2
of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 3
Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A)). 4
(2) D
EVELOPMENT NEEDS .—The term ‘‘devel-5
opment needs’’ includes— 6
(A) constructing, expanding, renovating, or 7
otherwise modernizing health care facilities; 8
(B) increasing telehealth capabilities; 9
(C) acquiring or upgrading health care in-10
formation systems such as electronic health 11
records; 12
(D) providing financial planning assistance 13
and preparing long-term financial plan; and 14
(E) such other needs as the Secretary 15
deems critical to maintaining health care serv-16
ices in the community in which an eligible 17
health care facility is located. 18
(3) E
LIGIBLE HEALTH CARE FACILITY .—The 19
term ‘‘eligible health care facility’’ means a facility 20
that is located in a rural area and is— 21
(A) a hospital (as defined in section 22
1861(e) of the Social Security Act); 23
(B) a psychiatric hospital (as defined in 24
section 1861(f) of such Act); 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 1417 IH
(C) a long-term care hospital (as defined 1
in section 1861(ccc) of such Act); 2
(D) a critical access hospital (as defined in 3
section 1861(mm)(1) of such Act); 4
(E) a rural health clinic (as defined in sec-5
tion 1861(aa)(2) of such Act); 6
(F) a religious nonmedical health care in-7
stitution (as defined in section 1861(ss)(1) of 8
such Act); 9
(G) a sole community hospital (as defined 10
in section 1886(d)(5)(C)(iii) of such Act); 11
(H) a rural emergency hospital (as defined 12
in section 1861(kkk)(2) of such Act); 13
(I) a home health agency (as defined in 14
section 1861(o) of such Act); or 15
(J) a community health center (as defined 16
in section 330 of the Public Health Service 17
Act). 18
(4) H
EALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE 19
AREA.—The term ‘‘health professional shortage 20
area’’ has the meaning given the term in section 21
332(a)(1)(A) of the Public Health Service Act. 22
(5) M
EDICALLY UNDERSERVED AREA .—The 23
term ‘‘medically underserved area’’ has the meaning 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 1417 IH
given the term in section 330I(a)(5) of the Public 1
Health Service Act. 2
(6) M
EDICALLY UNDERSERVED POPULATION .— 3
The term ‘‘medically underserved population’’ has 4
the meaning given the term in section 330(b)(3) of 5
the Public Health Service Act. 6
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS