§ 295f–1 — Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program

(a) The Secretary shall establish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (referred to in this section as the “Program”) to assure an adequate supply of, and encourage recruitment and retention of, public health professionals to eliminate critical public health workforce shortages in State, local, and Tribal public health agencies. (b) To be eligible to participate in the Program, an individual shall— (i) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a student in an accredited institution of higher education or school of public health in the final semester (or equivalent) of a program leading to a certificate or degree, including a master’s or doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, laboratory sciences, data systems, data science, data analytics, informatics, statistics, or another subject matter related to public health; and (ii) be employed by, or have accepted employment with, a State, local, or Tribal public health agency, or a related training fellowship at such State, local, or Tribal public health agency, as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon graduation; or (i) have graduated, during the preceding 10-year period, from an accredited institution of higher education or school of public health and received a certificate or degree, including a master’s or doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, laboratory sciences, data systems, data science, data analytics, informatics, statistics, or another subject matter related to public health; and (ii) be employed by, or have accepted employment with, a State, local, or Tribal public health agency or a related training fellowship at such State, local, or Tribal public health agency, as recognized by the Secretary; (2) be a United States citizen; and (A) submit an application to the Secretary to participate in the Program; (B) execute a written contract as required in subsection (c); and (4) not have received, for the same service, a reduction of loan obligations under section 1087e(m), 1078–10, 1078–11, 1078–12, or 1087j of title 20. (c) The written contract (referred to in this section as the “written contract”) between the Secretary and an individual shall contain— (1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary that the Secretary will repay on behalf of the individual loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant degree or certificate in accordance with the terms of the contract; (2) an agreement on the part of the individual that the individual will serve in the full-time employment of a State, local, or Tribal public health agency or a related fellowship program in a position related to the course of study or program for which the contract was awarded for a period of time (referred to in this section as the “period of obligated service”) of at least 3 consecutive years; (3) an agreement, as appropriate, on the part of the individual to relocate to a priority service area (as determined by the Secretary) in exchange for an additional loan repayment incentive amount to be determined by the Secretary; (4) a provision that any financial obligation of the United States arising out of a contract entered into under this section and any obligation of the individual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on funds being appropriated for loan repayments under this section; (5) under this section for the individual’s breach of the contract; and (6) such other statements of the rights and liabilities of the Secretary and of the individual, not inconsistent with this section. (1) A loan repayment provided for an individual under a written contract under the Program shall consist of payment, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the outstanding principal and interest on education loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant degree or certificate described in subsection (b)(1) in accordance with the terms of the contract. (A) For each year of obligated service that an individual contracts to serve under subsection (c) the Secretary may pay up to $50,000 on behalf of the individual for loans described in paragraph (1). With respect to participants under the Program whose total eligible loans are less than $150,000, the Secretary shall pay an amount that does not exceed ⅓ of the eligible loan balance for each year of obligated service of the individual. (B) The Secretary may take action in making awards under this section to ensure that— (i) an appropriate proportion of contracts are awarded to individuals who are eligible to participate in the program pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A); and (ii) contracts awarded under this section are equitably distributed among— (I) the geographical regions of the United States; (II) local, State, and Tribal public health departments; and (III) such public health departments under subclause (II) serving rural and urban areas. (3) For the purpose of providing reimbursements for tax liability resulting from payments under paragraph (2) on behalf of an individual, the Secretary shall, in addition to such payments, make payments to the individual in an amount not to exceed 39 percent of the total amount of loan repayments made for the taxable year involved. (e) With respect to an individual with a contract to serve under subsection (c), the date of the initiation of the period of obligated service may be postponed as approved by the Secretary. (f) An individual who fails to comply with the contract entered into under subsection (c) shall be subject to the same financial penalties as provided for under section 254o of this title for breaches of loan repayment contracts under section 254l–1 of this title. In the event that a participant fails to either begin or complete the obligated service requirement of the loan repayment contract under this section, the Secretary may waive or suspend either the unfulfilled service or the assessed damages as provided for under section 254o(d) of this title, as appropriate. (g) The loans eligible for repayment under this section are each of the following: (1) Any loan for education or training for employment by a health department. (2) Any loan under part E of subchapter VI (relating to nursing student loans). (3) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Federal Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolidation Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 [20 U.S.C. 1087e]). (4) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. (5) Any other Federal loan, as the Secretary determines appropriate. (1) The Secretary shall, as appropriate, establish a pilot program, to be known as the Bio-Preparedness Workforce Pilot Program, to provide for loan repayment for health professionals with expertise in infectious diseases and emergency preparedness and response activities to ensure an adequate supply of such professionals. Such program shall be administered consistent with the requirements of this section, except that, to be eligible to participate in the pilot program, an individual shall— (i) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a student in an accredited institution of higher education in the final semester (or equivalent) of a program leading to a health professions degree or certificate program relevant to such program; or (ii) have graduated, during the preceding 10-year period, from an accredited institution of higher education with a health professions degree or certificate program relevant to such program; and (B) be employed by, or have accepted employment with— (i) a Federal health care facility; (ii) a nonprofit health care facility that is located in a health professional shortage area (as defined in section 254e of this title), a frontier health professional shortage area (as defined in section 295p of this title), or a medically underserved community (as defined in section 295p of this title); (iii) an entity receiving assistance under subchapter XXIV for the provision of clinical services; (iv) a health program, or a facility, operated by an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization (as those terms are defined in section 5304 of title 25) or by an urban Indian organization (as defined in section 1603 of title 25); or (v) another relevant entity determined appropriate by the Secretary, as a health professional with expertise in infectious diseases or emergency preparedness and response. (2) The Secretary shall ensure that the pilot program established under paragraph (1) does not unnecessarily duplicate the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, or any other loan repayment program operated by the Department of Health and Human Services. (A) The Secretary shall evaluate the pilot program at the conclusion of the first cycle of recipients funded by the pilot program. (i) The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report on the evaluation under subparagraph (A). The report shall include, at a minimum, outcomes information from the pilot program, including any impact on recruitment and retention of health professionals with expertise in infectious diseases and emergency preparedness and response activities. (ii) The report under this subparagraph shall include a recommendation by the Secretary as to whether the pilot program under this subsection should be extended. (i) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2025.