Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1380 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1380
5	5	To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment
6	6	program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural
7	7	communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians,
8	8	and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	APRIL9, 2025
11	11	Ms. R
12	12	OSEN(for herself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which
13	13	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
14	14	Labor, and Pensions
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a
17	17	loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine
18	18	physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing
19	19	a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other
20	20	purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Specialty Physicians 4
25	25	Advancing Rural Care Act’’ or the ‘‘SPARC Act’’. 5
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29	29	SEC. 2. SPECIALTY MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS WORKFORCE 1
30	30	IN RURAL COMMUNITIES. 2
31	31	Title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 3
32	32	292 et seq.) is amended— 4
33	33	(1) by redesignating part G (42 U.S.C. 795j et 5
34	34	seq.) as part H; and 6
35	35	(2) by inserting after part F (42 U.S.C. 295h) 7
36	36	the following new part: 8
37	37	‘‘PART G—SPECIALTY MEDICINE WORKFORCE IN 9
38	38	RURAL COMMUNITIES 10
39	39	‘‘SEC. 782. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM. 11
40	40	‘‘(a) I
41	41	NGENERAL.— 12
42	42	‘‘(1) P
43	43	ROGRAM FOR SPECIALTY MEDICINE PHY -13
44	44	SICIANS.—The Secretary, acting through the Admin-14
45	45	istrator of the Health Resources and Services Ad-15
46	46	ministration, shall carry out a program under 16
47	47	which— 17
48	48	‘‘(A) the Secretary enters into agreements 18
49	49	with specialty medicine physicians to make pay-19
50	50	ments in accordance with subsection (b) on the 20
51	51	principal of and interest on any eligible loans 21
52	52	described in subsection (c); and 22
53	53	‘‘(B) the specialty medicine physicians 23
54	54	each agree to complete a period of obligated 24
55	55	service described in subsection (d) as a specialty 25
56	56	medicine physician in the United States in a 26
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60	60	rural community experiencing a shortage of 1
61	61	specialty medicine physicians. 2
62	62	‘‘(2) P
63	63	ROGRAM FOR NON -PHYSICIAN SPECIALTY 3
64	64	HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS .—The Secretary, acting 4
65	65	through the Administrator of the Health Resources 5
66	66	and Services Administration, may carry out a pro-6
67	67	gram under which— 7
68	68	‘‘(A) the Secretary enters into agreements 8
69	69	with non-physician specialty health care pro-9
70	70	viders to make payments in accordance with 10
71	71	subsection (b) on the principal of and interest 11
72	72	on any eligible loans described in subsection (c); 12
73	73	and 13
74	74	‘‘(B) the non-physician specialty health 14
75	75	care providers each agree to complete a period 15
76	76	of obligated service described in subsection (d) 16
77	77	as a non-physician specialty health care pro-17
78	78	vider in the United States in a rural community 18
79	79	experiencing a shortage of such providers. 19
80	80	‘‘(b) P
81	81	AYMENTS.—For each year of obligated service 20
82	82	by a specialty medicine physician pursuant to an agree-21
83	83	ment under subsection (a)(1) or by a non-physician spe-22
84	84	cialty health care provider pursuant to an agreement 23
85	85	under subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall make a pay-24
86	86	ment to such physician or provider as follows: 25
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90	90	‘‘(1) SERVICE IN SHORTAGE AREA .—The Sec-1
91	91	retary shall pay— 2
92	92	‘‘(A) for each year of obligated service by 3
93	93	a specialty medicine physician or non-physician 4
94	94	specialty health care provider pursuant to an 5
95	95	agreement under paragraph (1) or (2) of sub-6
96	96	section (a),
97	97	1
98	98	⁄6of the principal of and interest 7
99	99	on each eligible loan of the physician or pro-8
100	100	vider which is outstanding on the date the phy-9
101	101	sician or provider began service pursuant to the 10
102	102	agreement; and 11
103	103	‘‘(B) for completion of the sixth and final 12
104	104	year of such service, the remainder of such 13
105	105	principal and interest. 14
106	106	‘‘(2) M
107	107	AXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total amount of 15
108	108	payments under this section to any specialty medi-16
109	109	cine physician or non-physician specialty health care 17
110	110	provider shall not exceed $250,000. 18
111	111	‘‘(c) E
112	112	LIGIBLELOANS.—The loans eligible for repay-19
113	113	ment under this section are each of the following: 20
114	114	‘‘(1) Any loan for education in specialty medi-21
115	115	cine or specialty health care. 22
116	116	‘‘(2) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Fed-23
117	117	eral Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Direct Unsub-24
118	118	sidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolida-25
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122	122	tion Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of 1
123	123	the Higher Education Act of 1965). 2
124	124	‘‘(3) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E 3
125	125	of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 4
126	126	‘‘(4) Any other Federal loan as determined ap-5
127	127	propriate by the Secretary. 6
128	128	‘‘(d) P
129	129	ERIOD OFOBLIGATEDSERVICE.—Any spe-7
130	130	cialty medicine physician or non-physician specialty health 8
131	131	care provider receiving payments under this section as re-9
132	132	quired by an agreement under paragraph (1) or (2) of sub-10
133	133	section (a) shall agree to a 6-year commitment to full-time 11
134	134	employment, with no more than 1 year passing between 12
135	135	any 2 years of covered employment, as a specialty medi-13
136	136	cine physician or non-physician specialty health care pro-14
137	137	vider, as applicable, in the United States in a rural com-15
138	138	munity experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine phy-16
139	139	sicians or non-physician specialty health care providers, as 17
140	140	applicable. 18
141	141	‘‘(e) I
142	142	NELIGIBILITY FOR DOUBLEBENEFITS.—No 19
143	143	borrower may, for the same service, receive a reduction 20
144	144	of loan obligations or a loan repayment under both— 21
145	145	‘‘(1) this section; and 22
146	146	‘‘(2) any federally supported loan forgiveness 23
147	147	program, including under section 338B, 338I, or 24
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151	151	846 of this Act, or section 428J, 428L, 455(m), or 1
152	152	460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 2
153	153	‘‘(f) B
154	154	REACH.— 3
155	155	‘‘(1) L
156	156	IQUIDATED DAMAGES FORMULA .—The 4
157	157	Secretary may establish a liquidated damages for-5
158	158	mula to be used in the event of a breach of an 6
159	159	agreement entered into under paragraph (1) or (2) 7
160	160	of subsection (a). 8
161	161	‘‘(2) L
162	162	IMITATION.—The failure by a specialty 9
163	163	medicine physician or a non-physician specialty 10
164	164	health care provider to complete the full period of 11
165	165	service obligated pursuant to such an agreement, 12
166	166	taken alone, shall not constitute a breach of the 13
167	167	agreement, so long as the physician or provider com-14
168	168	pleted in good faith the years of service for which 15
169	169	payments were made to the physician or provider 16
170	170	under this section. 17
171	171	‘‘(g) S
172	172	PECIALRULES FOR NON-PHYSICIANSPE-18
173	173	CIALTYHEALTHCAREPROVIDERS.—Non-physician spe-19
174	174	cialty health care providers participating in the program 20
175	175	under this section are not eligible for other Federal loan 21
176	176	forgiveness programs specific to health care providers. Not 22
177	177	more than 15 percent of amounts made available to carry 23
178	178	out this section for a fiscal year may be allocated to 24
179	179	awards to non-physician specialty health care providers. 25
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183	183	‘‘(h) REPORTS TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 5 1
184	184	years after the date of enactment of this section, and not 2
185	185	less than every other year thereafter through fiscal year 3
186	186	2033, the Secretary shall report to Congress on— 4
187	187	‘‘(1) the practice location of special medicine 5
188	188	physicians and non-physician specialty health care 6
189	189	providers participating, or who have participated, in 7
190	190	the loan repayment program under this section; and 8
191	191	‘‘(2) the impact of the loan repayment program 9
192	192	under this section on the availability of specialty 10
193	193	medicine or specialty health care services in the 11
194	194	United States in rural communities experiencing a 12
195	195	shortage of specialty medicine physicians or non- 13
196	196	physician specialty health care providers. 14
197	197	‘‘(i) D
198	198	ATAUPDATES.—The Administrator of the 15
199	199	Health Resources and Services Administration shall up-16
200	200	date publicly available data on the supply of specialty med-17
201	201	icine physicians and non-physician specialty health care 18
202	202	providers, as appropriate. 19
203	203	‘‘(j) D
204	204	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
205	205	‘‘(1) N
206	206	ON-PHYSICIAN SPECIALTY HEALTH CARE 21
207	207	PROVIDER.—The term ‘non-physician specialty 22
208	208	health care provider’ means a health professional 23
209	209	other than a physician who is licensed to provide pa-24
210	210	tient care other than primary care services. 25
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214	214	‘‘(2) SPECIALTY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN .—The 1
215	215	term ‘specialty medicine physician’ means a physi-2
216	216	cian practicing in an area of medicine other than 3
217	217	primary care. 4
218	218	‘‘(k) A
219	219	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 5
220	220	carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro-6
221	221	priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 7
222	222	2025 through 2034.’’. 8
223	223	Æ
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