To recognize the importance of the Veterans' Administration Medical School Assistance and Health Manpower Training Act of 1972 in addressing shortfalls in the number of physicians and other health care professionals employed in the health care system of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to reauthorize the program of grants to medical schools affiliated with the Department, and for other purposes.

May 15, 2003

Mr. EDWARDS (for himself, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. RAHALL, and Mr. HOBSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

To recognize the importance of the Veterans' Administration Medical School Assistance and Health Manpower Training Act of 1972 in addressing shortfalls in the number of physicians and other health care professionals employed in the health care system of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to reauthorize the program of grants to medical schools affiliated with the Department, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Teague Grant Reauthorization Act'.

SECTION 2. SUCCESS OF VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL SCHOOL ASSISTANCE AND HEALTH MANPOWER TRAINING ACT OF 1972 IN ALLEVIATING SHORTAGES OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

(1) A severe shortage in the number of physicians and other health care professionals in the United States is predicted for the next two decades, as a result of a substantial growth in demand for medical services compared with the number of medical school graduates, foreign doctors in the United States, and other health care professionals available to meet that demand.

(2) Recent studies based on current trends predict a national shortage of up to 50,000 physicians by 2010 and up to 200,000 physicians by 2020.

(3) The passage and funding of the Veterans' Administration Medical School Assistance and Health Manpower Training Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-541), which added chapter 82 to title 38, United States Code, helped to prevent a predicted shortage of physicians and other health care professionals in the 1970s and 1980s, and resulted in the establishment of five new medical schools in the United States, at East Tennessee State University, the University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University, Wright State University, and Marshall University, each operated in conjunction with health care facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

(4) Over the past three decades, the partnerships between the Department of Veterans Affairs and those five medical schools not only helped prevent such a physician shortage, but also fostered significant gains in the quality of physician education, medical research, and health care delivery.

(5) Physicians and other health care professionals educated in those medical schools have benefited from the rich and diverse educational experiences available in veterans' health care facilities.

(6) Veterans and their families have benefited from medical care that is enhanced by faculty physicians, residency training, and comprehensive medical education that is available in veterans health care facilities affiliated with those medical schools.

(b) RECOGNITION- Congress hereby recognizes--

(1) the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Veterans' Administration Medical School Assistance and Health Manpower Training Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-541);

(2) the critical and historic role played by that Act towards alleviating the shortfall in the number of physicians and other health care professionals; and

(3) the importance of continued growth in the partnerships between the Department of Veterans Affairs and medical schools affiliated with the Department.

SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF PURPOSE AND DESIGNATION OF GRANTS.

Section 8221 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by striking `and to cooperate' and all that follows through `such subchapter' and inserting `to address shortfalls in the number of physicians and other health care professionals employed in the Veterans Health Administration'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new sentence: `Grants under this subchapter shall be known as `Teague Grants' in honor of the most-decorated veteran ever to have served in Congress, the Honorable Olin E. `Tiger' Teague of Texas.'.

SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM OF GRANTS TO AFFILIATED MEDICAL SCHOOLS.

(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- Section 8222 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following new subsection:

`(a) There is authorized to be appropriated for carrying out programs authorized under this subchapter $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009.'; and

(2) by striking subsection (c).

(b) CRITERIA FOR GRANTS- Subsection (b) of section 8223 of such title is amended--

(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the semicolon the following: `and will increase the number of medical or nursing students attending the school';

(2) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (3);

(3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and

(4) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new paragraph:

`(4) the application sets forth demonstrated benefits to the Department and to the care of veterans; and'.

(c) PRIORITY OF GRANT AWARDS- Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(c) The Secretary shall give priority in the award of grants under this section to the medical schools established pursuant to subchapter I.'.

END