To improve access to and the quality of primary health care, expand the health workforce, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act addresses the shortage of primary care physicians and nurses in the United States by significantly increasing funding for medical training programs, community health centers, and loan repayment programs for healthcare workers in underserved areas. It also tackles healthcare costs by banning anticompetitive contract terms used by hospitals and health systems, prohibiting facility fees for routine outpatient services, and strengthening hospital price transparency requirements.
Who Benefits and How
- Teaching health centers and medical schools receive $300 million annually (2024-2028) to train more primary care physicians, with priority for rural and underserved areas
- Community health centers receive $5.8 billion annually (2024-2026), a major increase to expand care for uninsured and low-income patients
- Nursing schools and nurse faculty receive over $200 million in new grants and loan programs to address the nursing shortage
- Patients and healthcare consumers benefit from banned facility fees on routine visits, lower negotiated rates from anti-steering prohibition bans, and stronger price transparency requirements
- Rural communities benefit from new rural residency programs and priority funding for underserved states
- Health insurance plans and employers gain negotiating power as anticompetitive contract clauses are prohibited
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Large hospital systems face restrictions on anticompetitive contracting practices like all-or-nothing contract terms and anti-steering clauses
- Off-campus hospital outpatient departments must obtain separate billing identifiers and cannot charge facility fees for evaluation, management, behavioral health, or telehealth services
- Hospitals generally face enhanced price transparency enforcement, public disclosure of non-compliance, and civil monetary penalties for violations
Key Provisions
- Authorizes $300M/year for teaching health center graduate medical education and guarantees annual per-resident payment increases
- Appropriates $5.8B annually for community health centers and $950M for National Health Service Corps
- Creates new rural residency planning and development program with grants for rural physician training
- Bans anticompetitive contract terms including anti-steering clauses, all-or-nothing affiliate requirements, and most-favored-nation clauses
- Prohibits facility fees for evaluation/management, outpatient behavioral health, and telehealth services at off-campus sites
- Requires hospitals to use unique identifiers for off-campus departments in billing and mandates comprehensive price transparency with civil penalties
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expands funding for primary care workforce training programs, community health centers, and the National Health Service Corps while banning anticompetitive healthcare contracts and facility fees to lower costs and increase transparency
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Education, Workforce Development, Public Health, Consumer Protection
Primary Purpose
Expands funding for primary care workforce training programs, community health centers, and the National Health Service Corps while banning anticompetitive healthcare contracts and facility fees to lower costs and increase transparency
Policy Domains
Title I - Primary Care and Health Workforce
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Teaching health centers
- Community health centers
- Medical residents
- Healthcare workers in underserved areas
- Low-income patients
- Rural communities
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal budget (increased appropriations)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title II - Health Workforce Training Programs
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Nursing schools
- Nurse faculty
- Nursing students
- Rural hospitals
- Historically Black colleges and universities
- Minority-serving institutions
- Allied health workers
- Dental professionals
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal budget (new appropriations)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title III - Healthcare Pricing and Transparency
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Health insurance plans
- Self-insured employers
- Patients
- Healthcare consumers
- Independent physicians
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Large hospital systems
- Off-campus hospital outpatient departments
- Hospital-owned physician practices
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Sanders (for himself and Mr. Marshall) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Accredited schools of nursing, Allied health training programs, Associate degree nursing programs
Community health centers, Community health centers (FQHCs), Community health centers receiving grants
Positive-direction: Community health centers (FQHCs), Healthcare employers seeking allied health workers, Healthcare facilities in underserved areas, Indian Health Service community health practitioners, Indian Tribes and Tribal health programs, Licensed practical nurses seeking advancement, Nurse practitioner residency programs, Prevention and wellness service providers, Primary care practices in underserved areas, School-based health centers, Teaching health centers
Negative-direction: Community health centers, Community health centers receiving grants
Hospitals, Hospitals not complying with price transparency, Large hospital systems with network leverage
Positive-direction: Nurses in health professional shortage areas, Rural hospitals and health centers
Negative-direction: Hospitals, Hospitals not complying with price transparency, Large hospital systems with network leverage, Off-campus hospital outpatient departments
Communities lacking primary care physicians, Healthcare consumers and advocacy groups, Healthcare consumers and patients
ERISA group health plans, Group health plans, Group health plans and ERISA plans
Positive-direction: Health insurance plans, Health insurance plans and issuers
Negative-direction: ERISA group health plans, Group health plans, Group health plans and ERISA plans, Group health plans under ERISA, Health insurance issuers, Health plans and ERISA plans
CMS enforcement division, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor
State and local health departments, State dental workforce programs
Dental professionals and students, Dental professionals in training
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A physician residency program, including a rural track program, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education that trains residents in rural areas for more than 50 percent of their residency and primarily focuses on producing physicians who will practice in rural areas
A department of a provider as defined in 42 CFR 413.65(a)(2) that is not located on the campus of such provider or within the distance described from a remote location of a hospital
Evaluation and management services, outpatient behavioral health services (excluding partial hospitalizations and intensive outpatient programs), and any items and services furnished via telehealth
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology