Sponsors (20)
The bill targets federal support to expand primary care training and placements in Tribal, rural, and underserved areas—improving access and building local training capacity—but its narrow eligibility, high minimum award size, matching requirement, and short authorization risk concentrating benefits among larger public institutions and limiting geographic reach and long-term sustainability.
Tribal, rural, and other medically underserved communities will likely see increased access to primary care as the program expands the supply of primary care physicians trained to serve high-need areas.
Medical students at funded public institutions receive scholarships, targeted training, and community-based clinical experience focused on primary care in underserved areas, improving financial support and real-world preparation for serving these communities.
Public institutions, Tribal partners, FQHCs, rural clinics, and IHS will have strengthened training pipelines through funded faculty development and partnerships, building local capacity to train and retain clinicians.
Many medical schools and students in States outside the top quartile of projected shortages are excluded from eligibility, concentrating benefits in a subset of States and limiting broader workforce development.
A $1,000,000 minimum award per grantee will likely concentrate funds at larger institutions, reducing the number of awards and limiting geographic spread of benefits to smaller or more remote schools and communities.
Requiring up to a 10% non‑Federal match could burden resource-strapped public institutions and Tribal partners, making it harder for some eligible organizations to participate.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a HRSA grant program funding public medical schools to expand primary care training and scholarships for work in Tribal, rural, and underserved areas, authorized at $75M/year for FY2026–2028.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a grant program to award grants to accredited public institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 17, 2025 by Tom Cole · Last progress September 17, 2025
Creates a new competitive HRSA grant program to help public medical schools train and place primary care physicians in Tribal, rural, and medically underserved areas. Grants target institutions in states projected to have the largest primary care shortages and support community-based training, faculty development, partnerships with tribal and community health providers, transition to residency, and student scholarships, with multi-year awards and authorized funding of $75 million per year for FY2026–2028. Awards run up to five years, must be at least $1 million per grantee per year, may require a up to 10% non-Federal match, and give priority to schools with tribal partnerships and states that include multiple Tribes or Tribal organizations.