I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1480
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a rural health center
innovation awards program and a rural health department enhancement
program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2025
Mr. K
USTOFF(for himself and Mr. PAPPAS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a rural
health center innovation awards program and a rural
health department enhancement program, and for other
purposes.
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 Innova-4
tion Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. RURAL HEALTH CENTER INNOVATION AWARDS 1
PROGRAM. 2
Subpart I of part D of title III of the Public Health 3
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding 4
at the end the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 330Q. RURAL HEALTH CENTER INNOVATION AWARDS 6
PROGRAM. 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-9
tity’ means an entity that— 10
‘‘(A) is a Federally qualified health center; 11
‘‘(B) is a rural health clinic; or 12
‘‘(C) agrees (as a condition of receiving a 13
grant under this section) to establish such a 14
center or clinic, including a hospital that agrees 15
(as such a condition) to convert to a Federally 16
qualified health center or rural health clinic. 17
‘‘(2) F
EDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CEN -18
TER.—The term ‘Federally qualified health center’ 19
has the meaning given such term in section 20
1861(aa) of the Social Security Act. 21
‘‘(3) R
URAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 22
means any area that is rural, within the meaning of 23
such term as used by the Office of Rural Health 24
Policy of the Health Resources and Services Admin-25
istration for purposes of determining eligibility for 26
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grants or services, including any area that is rural 1
within such meaning as used by such Office for fis-2
cal year 2025 or any area that is rural within such 3
meaning as amended for a subsequent fiscal year. 4
‘‘(4) R
URAL HEALTH CLINIC .—The term ‘rural 5
health clinic’ has the meaning given such term in 6
section 1861(aa) of the Social Security Act. 7
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 9
through the Director of the Office of Rural Health 10
Policy of the Health Resources and Services Admin-11
istration, shall establish a grant program to be 12
known as the ‘Rural Health Center Innovation 13
Awards program’ to award grants to eligible entities 14
that submit an application in accordance with sub-15
section (c) to enable such entities to establish or 16
maintain a Federally qualified health center or rural 17
health clinic that— 18
‘‘(A) serves individuals in a rural area as 19
a walk-in urgent care center and as a triage 20
center or staging facility for necessary air or 21
ambulance transport to an emergency depart-22
ment; and 23
‘‘(B) includes— 24
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‘‘(i) professional clinical staff, includ-1
ing physicians, physician interns, residents, 2
nurse practitioners, physician assistants, 3
nurse midwives, or other health care pro-4
viders providing walk-in urgent care and 5
emergency triage; and 6
‘‘(ii) resources, including laboratories, 7
x-ray machines, and cardiac monitors. 8
‘‘(2) P
ERMISSIBLE USES OF FUNDS .—The 9
funds of a grant awarded under this section may be 10
used to— 11
‘‘(A) expand the hours of operation of a 12
Federally qualified health center or rural health 13
clinic; 14
‘‘(B) pay for the costs of construction and 15
renovation of a Federally qualified health center 16
or rural health clinic; or 17
‘‘(C) carry out any other activity for the 18
purposes described in paragraph (1). 19
‘‘(c) A
PPLICATIONS ANDSELECTION.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 21
grant under this section shall submit to the Sec-22
retary an application at such time, in such manner, 23
and containing such information as the Secretary 24
may reasonably require. 25
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‘‘(2) START UP CENTERS AND CLINICS .—An 1
application submitted under paragraph (1) by an eli-2
gible entity that is not a Federally qualified health 3
center, or a rural health clinic, shall include a dem-4
onstration of the costs of the equipment and staffing 5
needed to establish the center or clinic. 6
‘‘(3) C
ONSIDERATION OF OVERLAP .—In the 7
case an eligible entity submits an application under 8
paragraph (1) that proposes to serve an area that is 9
served by another eligible entity through a grant 10
under this section, the Secretary may consider 11
whether an award to the eligible entity serving such 12
same area can be justified based on the unmet need 13
for additional services in such area. 14
‘‘(4) P
RIORITY.—In selecting recipients of 15
grants under this section, the Secretary shall give 16
priority to an eligible entity that is operating as a 17
Federally qualified health center, or a rural health 18
clinic, on the date on which the entity submits the 19
application under paragraph (1). 20
‘‘(d) G
RANTPERIOD ANDAMOUNTS.— 21
‘‘(1) P
ERIOD; RENEWAL.—Each grant awarded 22
under this section— 23
‘‘(A) shall be for a period of 5 years; and 24
‘‘(B) may be renewed. 25
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‘‘(2) AMOUNT.— 1
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The amount of a 2
grant awarded under this section to an eligible 3
entity shall not exceed— 4
‘‘(i) for the first year of the grant— 5
‘‘(I) $500,000 if the entity is a 6
Federally qualified health center, or a 7
rural health clinic, on the date on 8
which the award is made; and 9
‘‘(II) $750,000 if the entity is 10
using the grant to establish a Feder-11
ally qualified health center or a rural 12
health clinic; and 13
‘‘(ii) for each of the second through 14
fifth years of the grant, $500,000. 15
‘‘(B) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 16
the amount of a grant under this section for an 17
eligible entity for each year after the first year 18
in which the grant is awarded, the Secretary 19
shall, subject to subparagraph (A)(ii), consider 20
the number of patients treated, and the type of 21
treatment provided, by the entity in the prior 22
year. 23
‘‘(e) R
EPORTING.— 24
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 1
after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-2
retary shall report to the committees described in 3
paragraph (2) on the grant program under this sec-4
tion, including— 5
‘‘(A) an assessment of the success of the 6
program, challenges with respect to the pro-7
gram, and any action for regulatory flexibility 8
or legislative authority needed to improve the 9
program; 10
‘‘(B) any savings to Federal health care 11
programs; 12
‘‘(C) any increase in access to care; and 13
‘‘(D) any increase in utilization of health 14
services in rural areas. 15
‘‘(2) C
OMMITTEES.—The committees described 16
in this paragraph are— 17
‘‘(A) the Committee on Health, Education, 18
Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on Fi-19
nance, of the Senate; and 20
‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Com-21
merce, and the Committee on Ways and Means, 22
of the House of Representatives. 23
‘‘(f) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—No entity receiving 24
a grant under this section shall lose status as a Federally 25
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qualified health center, or a rural health clinic, on account 1
of carrying out any activities under this section. 2
‘‘(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4
$25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.’’. 5
SEC. 3. RURAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT ENHANCEMENT PRO-6
GRAM. 7
Subpart I of part D of title III of the Public Health 8
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.), as amended by sec-9
tion 2, is further amended by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘SEC. 330R. RURAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT ENHANCEMENT 12
PROGRAM. 13
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
‘‘(1) R
URAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ has 15
the meaning given the term in section 330Q(a). 16
‘‘(2) R
URAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT .—The term 17
‘rural health department’ means a local public health 18
department that is located in a rural area. 19
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, acting 20
through the Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy 21
of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 22
shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to rural health 23
departments that submit an application in accordance 24
with subsection (c) to enhance such departments and en-25
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able such departments to provide individuals in rural areas 1
with emergency services, triage and transport to emer-2
gency departments, primary care services, and other serv-3
ices similar to services provided by emergency depart-4
ments. 5
‘‘(c) A
PPLICATIONS.—A rural health department 6
seeking a grant under this section shall submit an applica-7
tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 8
containing such information as the Secretary may reason-9
ably require, including— 10
‘‘(1) an indication of the estimated cost of the 11
equipment and staffing needed by the department 12
for the first year of the award to set up the activities 13
under this section; 14
‘‘(2) a demonstration that the department has, 15
on the date on which the application is submitted, 16
a facility operating in a rural area; and 17
‘‘(3) a demonstration that, on the date on 18
which the application is submitted, the depart-19
ment— 20
‘‘(A) has a nursing staff and medical 21
equipment; and 22
‘‘(B) intends to use such equipment and 23
staffing toward carrying out the activities under 24
this section. 25
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‘‘(d) GRANTS.— 1
‘‘(1) A
NNUAL AWARDS .—The funds awarded 2
through a grant under this section to a rural health 3
department shall be awarded on an annual basis for 4
each of 5 years. 5
‘‘(2) M
AXIMUM AMOUNTS .—The amount of a 6
grant under this section for a year shall not exceed 7
$500,000. 8
‘‘(3) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary shall 9
determine the amount awarded through a grant 10
under this section for a year in accordance with the 11
following: 12
‘‘(A) For the first year of the grant, the 13
amount shall be based on the amount the rural 14
health department estimates for the cost of 15
equipment and staffing needed to establish and 16
implement the activities and services supported 17
under this section, as specified in the applica-18
tion under subsection (c). 19
‘‘(B) For the second through fifth years of 20
the grant, the amount shall be based on the 21
number of patients treated, and the type of 22
treatment provided, by the rural health depart-23
ment in the prior year. 24
‘‘(e) U
SE OFFUNDS.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A rural health department 1
receiving a grant under this section shall use the 2
funds awarded through the grant to carry out the 3
activities described in subsection (b) at a facility 4
that is located in a rural area, including by— 5
‘‘(A) obtaining additional medical equip-6
ment and resources necessary for carrying out 7
the activities described in subsection (b), such 8
as laboratories, x-ray machines, and cardiac 9
monitors; 10
‘‘(B) hiring additional providers to carry 11
out the activities described in subsection (b), 12
such as physician interns, residents, nurse prac-13
titioners, physician assistants, and nurse mid-14
wives, which hiring may be through a partner-15
ship with an academic medical center; and 16
‘‘(C) providing outreach to the community 17
regarding the activities of the rural health de-18
partment carried out using funds provided 19
through a grant under this section. 20
‘‘(2) L
IMITATIONS.—Of the funds awarded to a 21
rural health department under this section— 22
‘‘(A) for each year of the grant, not more 23
than 3 percent of such funds may be used to 24
carry out paragraph (1)(B); and 25
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‘‘(B) for each of the first two years of the 1
grant, not more than 3 percent of such funds 2
may be used to carry out paragraph (1)(C). 3
‘‘(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 5
$25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.’’. 6
Æ
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