II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 975
To establish a grant program to support schools of medicine and schools
of osteopathic medicine in underserved areas.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH12, 2025
Mr. K
AINE(for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To establish a grant program to support schools of medicine
and schools of osteopathic medicine in underserved areas.
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 ‘‘Expanding Medical 4
Education Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND SCHOOLS 1
OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE IN UNDER-2
SERVED AREAS. 3
Subpart II of part C of title VII of the Public Health 4
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293m et seq.) is amended by add-5
ing at the end the following: 6
‘‘SEC. 749C. GRANTS FOR SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND 7
SCHOOLS OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE IN UN-8
DERSERVED AREAS. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 10
to institutions of higher education (including consortiums 11
of such institutions) for the establishment, improvement, 12
or expansion of a school of medicine or osteopathic medi-13
cine, or a branch campus of a school of medicine or osteo-14
pathic medicine. 15
‘‘(b) P
RIORITY.—In selecting grant recipients under 16
this section, the Secretary shall give priority to any insti-17
tution of higher education (or consortium of such institu-18
tions) that— 19
‘‘(1) proposes to use the grant for the establish-20
ment of a school of medicine or osteopathic medi-21
cine, or a branch campus of a school of medicine or 22
osteopathic medicine, in an area— 23
‘‘(A) in which— 24
‘‘(i) no other such school is based; or 25
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‘‘(ii) in the case in which the school of 1
medicine or osteopathic medicine proposed 2
to be established would be a minority-serv-3
ing institution, no other minority-serving 4
institution that includes a school of medi-5
cine or osteopathic medicine is based; and 6
‘‘(B) that is a medically underserved com-7
munity or a health professional shortage area; 8
or 9
‘‘(2) is a minority-serving institution described 10
in section 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 11
1965 or an institution or program described in sec-12
tion 326(e) of such Act. 13
‘‘(c) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants under 14
this section, the Secretary, to the extent practicable, may 15
ensure equitable distribution of awards among the geo-16
graphical regions of the United States. 17
‘‘(d) U
SE OFFUNDS.—An institution of higher edu-18
cation (or a consortium of such institutions)— 19
‘‘(1) shall use grant amounts received under 20
this section to— 21
‘‘(A) recruit, enroll, and retain medical 22
students who are pursuing a degree of doctor of 23
medicine or doctor of osteopathy, including in-24
dividuals who are from disadvantaged back-25
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grounds (including racial and ethnic groups 1
underrepresented among medical students and 2
health professions), individuals from rural and 3
underserved areas, low-income individuals, and 4
first generation college students, at a school of 5
medicine or osteopathic medicine or branch 6
campus of a school of medicine or osteopathic 7
medicine; and 8
‘‘(B) develop, implement, and expand cur-9
riculum that emphasizes care for rural and un-10
derserved populations, including accessible and 11
culturally and linguistically appropriate care 12
and services, at such school or branch campus; 13
and 14
‘‘(2) may use grant amounts received under this 15
section to— 16
‘‘(A) plan and construct— 17
‘‘(i) a school of medicine or osteo-18
pathic medicine, or a branch campus of a 19
school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, 20
in an area in which no other such school 21
is based; or 22
‘‘(ii) a school of medicine or osteo-23
pathic medicine, or a branch campus of a 24
school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, 25
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that will be a minority-serving institution, 1
in an area in which no other such school 2
that is a minority-serving institution is 3
based; 4
‘‘(B) plan, develop, and meet criteria for 5
accreditation for a school of medicine or osteo-6
pathic medicine or branch campus of a school 7
of medicine or osteopathic medicine; 8
‘‘(C) hire faculty, including faculty from 9
racial and ethnic groups who are underrep-10
resented among the medical and other health 11
professions, and other staff to serve at such a 12
school or branch campus; 13
‘‘(D) support educational programs at such 14
a school or branch campus; 15
‘‘(E) modernize and expand infrastructure 16
at such a school or branch campus; and 17
‘‘(F) support other activities that the Sec-18
retary determines further the establishment, 19
improvement, or expansion of a school of medi-20
cine or osteopathic medicine or branch campus 21
of a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine. 22
‘‘(e) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 23
under subsection (a), an institution of higher education 24
(or a consortium of such institutions), shall submit an ap-25
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plication to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 1
and containing such information as the Secretary may re-2
quire, including a description of the institution’s or con-3
sortium’s planned activities described in subsection (d). 4
‘‘(f) R
EPORTING.— 5
‘‘(1) R
EPORTS FROM ENTITIES .—Each institu-6
tion of higher education, or consortium of such insti-7
tutions, awarded a grant under this section shall 8
submit an annual report to the Secretary on the ac-9
tivities conducted under such grant, and other infor-10
mation as the Secretary may require. 11
‘‘(2) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 5 12
years after the date of enactment of this section and 13
every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 14
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 15
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on En-16
ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 17
a report that provides a summary of the activities 18
and outcomes associated with grants made under 19
this section. Such reports shall include— 20
‘‘(A) a list of awardees, including their pri-21
mary geographic location, and location of any 22
school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, or a 23
branch campus of school of medicine or osteo-24
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pathic medicine that was established, improved, 1
or expanded under this program; 2
‘‘(B) the total number of students (includ-3
ing the number of students from racial and eth-4
nic groups underrepresented among medical 5
students and health professions, low-income 6
students, and first generation college students) 7
who— 8
‘‘(i) are enrolled at or who have grad-9
uated from any school of medicine or os-10
teopathic medicine, or a branch campus of 11
school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, 12
that was established, improved, or ex-13
panded under this program, deidentified 14
and disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, 15
sex, geographic region, disability status, 16
and other relevant factors, to the extent 17
such information is available; and 18
‘‘(ii) who subsequently participate in 19
an accredited internship or medical resi-20
dency program upon graduation from any 21
school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, 22
or a branch campus of a school of medicine 23
or osteopathic medicine, that was estab-24
lished, improved, or expanded under this 25
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program, deidentified and disaggregated by 1
race, ethnicity, age, sex, geographic region, 2
disability status, medical specialty pursued, 3
and other relevant factors, to the extent 4
such information is available; 5
‘‘(C) the effects of such program on the 6
health care provider workforce, including any 7
impact on demographic representation 8
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and sex, and 9
the fields or specialties pursued by students 10
who have graduated from any school of medi-11
cine or osteopathic medicine, or a branch cam-12
pus of school of medicine or osteopathic medi-13
cine, that was established, improved, or ex-14
panded under this program; 15
‘‘(D) the effects of such program on health 16
care access in underserved areas, including 17
medically underserved communities and health 18
professional shortage areas; and 19
‘‘(E) recommendations for improving the 20
program described in this section, and any 21
other considerations as the Secretary deter-22
mines appropriate. 23
‘‘(3) P
UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 24
shall make reports submitted under paragraph (2) 25
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publicly available on the website of the Department 1
of Health and Human Services. 2
‘‘(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) B
RANCH CAMPUS.— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘branch 5
campus’, with respect to a school of medicine or 6
osteopathic medicine, means an additional loca-7
tion of such school that is geographically apart 8
and independent of the main campus, at which 9
the school offers at least 50 percent of the pro-10
gram leading to a degree of doctor of medicine 11
or doctor of osteopathy that is offered at the 12
main campus. 13
‘‘(B) I
NDEPENDENCE FROM MAIN CAM -14
PUS.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 15
location of a school described in such subpara-16
graph shall be considered to be independent of 17
the main campus described in such subpara-18
graph if the location— 19
‘‘(i) is permanent in nature; 20
‘‘(ii) offers courses in educational pro-21
grams leading to a degree, certificate, or 22
other recognized educational credential; 23
‘‘(iii) has its own faculty and adminis-24
trative or supervisory organization; and 25
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‘‘(iv) has its own budgetary and hiring 1
authority. 2
‘‘(2) F
IRST GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENT .— 3
The term ‘first generation college student’ has the 4
meaning given such term in section 402A(h)(3) of 5
the Higher Education Act of 1965. 6
‘‘(3) H
EALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE 7
AREA.—The term ‘health professional shortage area’ 8
has the meaning given such term in section 332(a). 9
‘‘(4) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 10
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 11
meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-12
er Education Act of 1965. 13
‘‘(5) M
EDICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMUNITY .— 14
The term ‘medically underserved community’ has the 15
meaning given such term in section 799B(6). 16
‘‘(h) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 17
is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-18
essary to carry out this section.’’. 19
Æ
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