Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6468 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6468

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize rural residency
    planning and development grant programs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 4, 2025

  Mrs. Miller of West Virginia (for herself, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Smith of
 Nebraska, and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the following bill;
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize rural residency
    planning and development grant programs, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Residency Planning and
Development Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.

    Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.)
is amended by inserting after section 330A-2 (42 U.S.C. 254c-1b) the
following:

``SEC. 330A-3. RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AND
              RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL
              ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Rural Residency Planning and Development Program.--
            ``(1) Grants.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary may award grants
                to eligible entities to establish new rural residency
                programs (including adding new rural training sites to
                existing rural track programs).
                    ``(B) Funding.--Grants awarded under this
                subsection may be fully funded at the time of the
                award.
                    ``(C) Term.--The term of a grant under this
                subsection shall be 3 years and may be extended at the
                discretion of the Secretary.
            ``(2) Applications.--
                    ``(A) In general.--To be eligible to receive a
                grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall
                prepare and submit to the Secretary an application at
                such time, in such manner, and containing such
                information as the Secretary may require, including a
                description of the pathway of the rural residency
                program as described in subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Pathway.--A pathway of a rural residency
                program supported under this subsection shall be for--
                            ``(i) general primary care and high-need
                        specialty care, including family medicine,
                        internal medicine, preventive medicine,
                        psychiatry, or general surgery;
                            ``(ii) maternal health and obstetrics,
                        which may be obstetrics and gynecology or
                        family medicine with enhanced obstetrical
                        training; or
                            ``(iii) any other pathway as determined
                        appropriate by the Secretary.
    ``(b) Rural Residency Planning and Development Technical Assistance
Program.--
            ``(1) Grants.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary may award grants
                to eligible entities to provide technical assistance to
                awardees of and potential applicants of the program
                described in subsection (b).
                    ``(B) Funding.--Grants awarded under this
                subsection may be fully funded at the time of the
                award.
                    ``(C) Term.--The term of a grant under this
                subsection shall be 4 years and may be extended at the
                discretion of the Secretary.
            ``(2) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant
        under this subsection, an eligible entity shall prepare and
        submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such
        manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may
        require.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity'--
                    ``(A) means--
                            ``(i) a domestic public or private
                        nonprofit or for-profit entity; or
                            ``(ii) an Indian Tribe or Tribal
                        organization; and
                    ``(B) may include faith-based or community-based
                organizations, rural hospitals, rural community-based
                ambulatory patient care centers (including rural health
                clinics), health centers operated by an Indian Tribe,
                Tribal organization, or urban Indian organization,
                graduate medical education consortiums (including
                institutions of higher education, such as schools of
                allopathic medicine, schools of osteopathic medicine,
                or historically Black colleges or universities), or
                other organizations as determined appropriate by the
                Secretary.
            ``(2) Rural residency program.--The term `rural residency
        program' means a physician residency program, including a rural
        track program, accredited by the Accreditation Council for
        Graduate Medical Education (or a similar body) that--
                    ``(A) trains residents in rural areas (as defined
                by the Secretary) for more than 50 percent of the total
                time of their residency; and
                    ``(B) primarily focuses on producing physicians who
                will practice in rural areas, as defined by the
                Secretary.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated
        to carry out this section $12,700,000 for each of fiscal years
        2026 through 2030.
            ``(2) Availability.--Any amounts appropriated under
        paragraph (1) shall remain available to the Secretary until
        expended.''.
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