Division C of the bill, which begins on Page 855, is entitled Public Health and Workforce Development. The first provision gradually increases payments each fiscal year into a "Public Health Investment Fund".
Title I is about Community Health Centers. The first provision increases funding for such centers. It's actually the only provision under this Title.
Title II is about Workforce. Subtitle A deals with Primary Care Workforce. Part 1 is about the National Health Service Corps. The NHSC is appropriated funding out of the above-named Public Health Investment Fund.
Part 2 deals with the promotion of primary care and dentistry (yay dentistry!). Medical students who agree to serve for at least two years as primary care providers in the NHSC in underserved areas are eligible for loan repayments. Provisions also deal with training for general, pediatric, and public health dentists and dental hygienists. The funding for all of these things come from the Public Health Investment Fund.
Subtitle B deals with the Nursing Workforce. Nurses can enter into agreements similar to those for physicians by agreeing to serve at least two years in underserved areas. The funding is through the Public Health Investment Fund.
Subtitle C is about the Public Health Workforce. These "public health professionals" can also agree to serve for at least two years.
Subtitle D entails Adapting Workforce to Evolving Health System Needs. Part 1 deals with Health Professions Training for Diversity. Part 2 deals with Interdisciplinary Training Programs, such as cultural and linguistic competency training. Part 3 establishes an Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment. Part 4 deals with Health Workforce Assessment. Part 5 deals with Authorization of Appropriations.
Title III: Prevention and Wellness begins on Page 930 of HR 3200. Provisions deal with appropriations, setting national priorities, creating a Task Force on Clinical Preventive Services and a Task Force on Community Preventive Services, coordinating research on prevention and wellness, establishing through grants a core public health infrastructure program.
Title IV: Quality and Surveillance begins on Page 964. The provisions deal heavily with the identification and development of "best practices".
Title V: Other Provisions begins on Page 979. Subtitle A deals with Drug Discounts for Rural and Other Hospitals. It's an amendment to an existing program. Subtitle B is about School-Based Health Clinics. The provisions establish through grants health clinics based in schools in certain medically underserved areas. Subtitle C deals with the National Medical Device Registry, establishing such a registry to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on Class III or some class II devices (the FDA classes devices based on consumer safety; class I is the safest) used on or in patients. Subtitle D establishes Grants for Comprehensive Programs to Provide Education to Nurses and Create a Pipeline to Nursing. Subtitle E deals with States Failing to Adhere to Certain Employment Obligations.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap. HR 3200, 1017-page bill, read and analyzed, as my eyes saw it. Obviously the average American does not have time to read through the whole bill to figure out what's in it. I wish there were an official source for summaries of all (not just controversial) provisions. I believe THOMAS (http://thomas.loc.gov) provides summaries with the full text of the bill, but it's not always the easiest sort of thing to understand. Do I dare read the Senate HELP Committee's bill??? Or wait for the Finance Committee's bill?
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