§239l–1 Administration

Summary

The Surgeon General must run the Track using money from the Department of Health and Human Services. The National Health Care Workforce Commission will give advice. The Surgeon General can hire teachers, staff, and administrators and should use affiliated health training schools when possible. Pay and benefits for Track staff must be set so they match those at fully accredited U.S. health schools. The Surgeon General can give faculty academic titles and is not limited by the usual federal pay caps when setting salaries for the Track. The Surgeon General can make paid agreements with other federal agencies and with universities to use medical facilities and train students. The Surgeon General may set up postdoctoral and technical programs, cooperative programs for several health professions (like medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dental, public health, behavioral health, and physician assistants), and other needed programs. The Surgeon General must offer continuing education for health professionals. The Surgeon General can make contracts and grants with nonprofits, accept gifts, use visiting scholars, and appoint outside scientists to Track jobs. Volunteers are treated as federal employees only for workers’ compensation and certain legal claims, and the Track cannot promise spending before budget authority exists.