Frontier Health Care Access Act of 2003

Frontier Health Care Access Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include residents of frontier areas (as defined by this Act) within the population groups making a servicing health facility eligible for "health center" grants and loans.

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3668 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3668

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide greater access for 
    residents of frontier areas to health care services provided by 
                       community health centers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2003

    Mr. Carson of Oklahoma introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide greater access for 
    residents of frontier areas to health care services provided by 
                       community health centers.

    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 ``Frontier Health Care Access Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) People who live in frontier areas are medically 
        underserved and face unique challenges in accessing affordable 
        health care.
            (2) People who live in frontier areas are more likely to 
        lack health insurance than other rural and urban citizens.
            (3) Frontier areas generally do not have population centers 
        that can support the full range of health care services 
        available in most urban and some rural areas.
            (4) Community health centers play an important role in 
        providing health services to many medically underserved areas 
        and populations.
            (5) Many frontier areas do not have community health 
        centers.
            (6) Many frontier areas cannot currently qualify for 
        community health centers because the Federal definition of 
        medically underserved areas or populations does not 
        appropriately or effectively recognize the unique nature and 
        needs of frontier areas and those who live in them.
            (7) Any definition of frontier areas for purposes of 
        eligibility for Federal or State health care programs should 
        look beyond simple measures of population density to consider 
        such factors as the distance from and travel time to the 
        nearest significant health care service center or market.
            (8) People who live in frontier areas should be included 
        explicitly in this expansion of the community health center 
        program.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to provide greater 
access for residents of frontier areas to the health care services 
provided by community health centers.

SEC. 3. FRONTIER COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS.

    Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``and residents of 
        public housing'' and inserting ``residents of public housing, 
        or residents of frontier areas''; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (r) the following:
    ``(s) Residents of Frontier Areas.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may award grants for the 
        purposes described in subsections (c), (e), and (f) for the 
        planning and delivery of services to a special medically 
        underserved population comprised of residents of a frontier 
        area.
            ``(2) Supplement not supplant.--A grant awarded under this 
        subsection shall be expended to supplement, and not supplant, 
        the expenditures of the health center involved and the value of 
        in-kind contributions for the delivery of services to the 
        population described in paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Definition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In this subsection, the term 
                `frontier area' means a county or a rational area 
                identified by the Secretary, in consultation with 
                appropriate State offices of rural health, as meeting 
                the definition developed by the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Regulations.--The Secretary shall through 
                regulations develop a definition of a frontier area for 
                purposes of this subsection. In developing such 
                definition, the Secretary shall consider factors such 
                as population density, distance in miles from the 
                nearest significant health care service center or 
                market, and travel time in minutes from the nearest 
                significant health care service center or market.''.
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