“A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the designation of general surgery shortage areas, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states findings on physician workforce shortages, including that the supply of general surgeons will not keep pace with population growth or demand by 2030, that shortages in all surgical specialties are projected at 15,800 to 30,200 by 2034, and that rural areas have only 69 percent of the general surgeons needed.
This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Health Resources and Services Administration, to study whether existing health professional shortage area designations accurately measure general surgeon access for underserved urban, suburban, and rural populations, and to evaluate alternative methodologies including surgery service areas based on Medicare patient origin data, surgeon-to-population ratios, and thresholds for optimal, adequate, shortage, and critical shortage levels that account for wait times, outcomes, travel time, and critical access hospitals. It requires a report to Congress within one year, annual publication of related data in the Federal Register, stakeholder consultation, and authorizes the Secretary to designate general surgery shortage areas through notice-and-comment rulemaking using procedures similar to those for health professional shortage areas under section 332.