§254t Demonstration project

Summary

The Secretary must run a short-term project that lets chiropractic doctors and pharmacists take part in the Loan Repayment Program for health workers. People in the project must follow the program’s rules, except for two specific eligibility rules. Participants will work in both rural and urban places. The Secretary cannot place a participant at a site unless a doctor or another licensed prescriber is also assigned there and will work at the same time. That does not mean the prescriber must supervise the participant, and State licensure rules still apply. States do not have to join the project. People and sites in this project will not be counted when deciding health professional shortage areas during fiscal years 2002 through 2004. The Secretary must evaluate the project and send a report to the main Senate and House health and appropriations committees about access to care, patient satisfaction, quality, effects on underserved groups, how shortage-area designations might change, and whether adding these professions to the Corps permanently would help. Money may be provided as needed for fiscal years 2002 through 2004. If by September 30, 2004 the Secretary says there were too few participants to evaluate, funding can be extended to fiscal year 2005.