View all text of Part D [§ 294 - § 294k]
§ 294a. Area health education centers
(a) Establishment of awardsThe Secretary shall make the following 2 types of awards in accordance with this section:
(1) Infrastructure development award
(2) Point of service maintenance and enhancement award
(b) Eligible entities; application
(1) Eligible entities
(A) Infrastructure development
(B) Point of service maintenance and enhancement
(2) Application
(c) Use of funds
(1) Required activitiesAn eligible entity shall use amounts awarded under a grant under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2) to carry out the following activities:
(A) Develop and implement strategies, in coordination with the applicable one-stop delivery system under section 3151(e) of title 29, to recruit individuals from underrepresented minority populations or from disadvantaged or rural backgrounds into health professions, and support such individuals in attaining such careers.
(B) Develop and implement strategies to foster and provide community-based training and education to individuals seeking careers in health professions within underserved areas for the purpose of developing and maintaining a diverse health care workforce that is prepared to deliver high-quality care, with an emphasis on primary care, in underserved areas or for health disparity populations, in collaboration with other Federal and State health care workforce development programs, the State workforce agency, and local workforce investment boards, and in health care safety net sites.
(C) Prepare individuals to more effectively provide health services to underserved areas and health disparity populations through field placements or preceptorships in conjunction with community-based organizations, accredited primary care residency training programs, Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, public health departments, or other appropriate facilities.
(D) Conduct and participate in interdisciplinary training that involves physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, optometrists, community health workers, public and allied health professionals, or other health professionals, as practicable.
(E) Deliver or facilitate continuing education and information dissemination programs for health care professionals, with an emphasis on individuals providing care in underserved areas and for health disparity populations.
(F) Propose and implement effective program and outcomes measurement and evaluation strategies.
(G) Establish a youth public health program to expose and recruit high school students into health careers, with a focus on careers in public health.
(2) Innovative opportunitiesAn eligible entity may use amounts awarded under a grant under subsection (a)(1) or subsection (a)(2) to carry out any of the following activities:
(A) Develop and implement innovative curricula in collaboration with community-based accredited primary care residency training programs, Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, behavioral and mental health facilities, public health departments, or other appropriate facilities, with the goal of increasing the number of primary care physicians and other primary care providers prepared to serve in underserved areas and health disparity populations.
(B) Coordinate community-based participatory research with academic health centers, and facilitate rapid flow and dissemination of evidence-based health care information, research results, and best practices to improve quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care and health care systems within community settings.
(C) Develop and implement other strategies to address identified workforce needs and increase and enhance the health care workforce in the area served by the area health education center program.
(d) Requirements
(1) Area health education center programIn carrying out this section, the Secretary shall ensure the following:
(A) An entity that receives an award under this section shall conduct at least 10 percent of clinical education required for medical students in community settings that are removed from the primary teaching facility of the contracting institution for grantees that operate a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine. In States in which an entity that receives an award under this section is a nursing school or its parent institution, the Secretary shall alternatively ensure that—
(i) the nursing school conducts at least 10 percent of clinical education required for nursing students in community settings that are remote from the primary teaching facility of the school; and
(ii) the entity receiving the award maintains a written agreement with a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine to place students from that school in training sites in the area health education center program area.
(B) An entity receiving funds under subsection (a)(2) does not distribute such funding to a center that is eligible to receive funding under subsection (a)(1).
(2) Area health education centerThe Secretary shall ensure that each area health education center program includes at least 1 area health education center, and that each such center—
(A) is a public or private organization whose structure, governance, and operation is independent from the awardee and the parent institution of the awardee;
(B) is not a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine, the parent institution of such a school, or a branch campus or other subunit of a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine or its parent institution, or a consortium of such entities;
(C) designates an underserved area or population to be served by the center which is in a location removed from the main location of the teaching facilities of the schools participating in the program with such center and does not duplicate, in whole or in part, the geographic area or population served by any other center;
(D) fosters networking and collaboration among communities and between academic health centers and community-based centers;
(E) serves communities with a demonstrated need of health professionals in partnership with academic medical centers;
(F) addresses the health care workforce needs of the communities served in coordination with the public workforce investment system; and
(G) has a community-based governing or advisory board that reflects the diversity of the communities involved.
(e) Matching funds
(f) Limitation
(g) Award
(h) Project terms
(1) In generalExcept as provided in paragraph (2), the period during which payments may be made under an award under subsection (a)(1) may not exceed—
(A) in the case of a program, 12 years; or
(B) in the case of a center within a program, 6 years.
(2) Exception
(i) Inapplicability of provision
(j) Authorization of appropriations
(1) In general
(2) Requirements
(A) not more than 35 percent shall be used for awards under subsection (a)(1);
(B) not less than 60 percent shall be used for awards under subsection (a)(2);
(C) not more than 1 percent shall be used for grants and contracts to implement outcomes evaluation for the area health education centers; and
(D) not more than 4 percent shall be used for grants and contracts to provide technical assistance to entities receiving awards under this section.
(3) Carryover funds
(k) Sense of Congress
(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title VII, § 751, as added Pub. L. 105–392, title I, § 103, Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3541; amended Pub. L. 111–148, title V, § 5403(a), Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 644; Pub. L. 113–128, title V, § 512(z)(2), July 22, 2014, 128 Stat. 1716; Pub. L. 116–136, div. A, title III, § 3401(6), Mar. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 386.)