Senators propose incentives to attract public health workers

Legislation introduced Thursday in the Senate would establish scholarships and loan repayment programs for students going into public health professions.

The bill, S. 1882, introduced by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., aims to increase the pipeline of qualified public health workers at the federal, state, local and tribal levels by providing scholarships to students pledging to go into the field.

Additionally, the legislation encourages graduates to stay in the profession by providing student loan repayments in exchange for a commitment of service to public health. The bill would require an employee to serve at least three years, with potential longer periods as determined by the Health and Human Services secretary and the employee, said Mike Buttry, a spokesman for Hagel.

According to a recent report by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, the government will need to fill more than 35,350 mission-critical medical and public health federal jobs in the next two years, including spots for more than 20,000 nurses and thousands of physicians, pharmacists and occupational therapists.

"There are critical public health workforce shortages in federal, state, local and tribal health agencies," Hagel said in a statement. "We must address this problem before it becomes a crisis."

The legislation comes as the government is looking for ways to offset a potential retirement wave, with 60 percent of the federal workforce eligible to retire within the next decade.

Hagel and Durbin said in a statement that the average age of lab technicians, epidemiologists, environmental health experts, microbiologists, information technology specialists and public health administrators making up the public health workforce is 47 -- seven years older than the average age of the nation's workforce.

According to Kristine Simmons, vice president for government affairs at the Partnership, the legislation would better prepare the federal government to address many of the country's greatest threats, including bioterrorism, pandemic flu and food-borne illnesses. The government "has a lot of health-related challenges," she said. "This bill is a way to help build the pipeline of talent and address those challenges."

The legislation would authorize $35 million per year for student scholarships and $195 million per year for loan repayments, the senators said. Eighty percent of the funds would be dedicated to placing public health workers at the state and local level, with bonus payments made available to those who agree to work in underserved areas.

Buttry said the loan repayment program would be available to current public health employees who have graduated within the last 10 years with an associate, undergraduate or graduate health degree.