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To establish procedures for the detailing of Public Health Service officers for purposes of advancing care in underserved communities.
Summary
This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to establish procedures for deploying Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers to underserved communities. The bill allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to detail PHS officers to Urban Indian organizations to support the Department's functions in these communities. The bill also modifies rules for appointing PHS personnel by making constructive credit for length of service discretionary rather than mandatory, and requires the Secretary to develop objective, transparent criteria for granting such credit. The criteria must prioritize appointees serving in rural or remote areas, those specializing in areas with workforce shortages, those serving areas with significant access to care challenges, and those serving Indian tribes and tribal organizations, with periodic review and updates to reflect current workforce needs.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
3 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- Apr 28, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Apr 28, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 28, 2026
Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Tillis, and Ms. Cortez Masto) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To establish procedures for the detailing of Public Health Service officers for purposes of advancing care in underserved communities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Public Health Services for Advancing Care and Creating Efficient Support Systems in Underserved Communities Act” or the “PHS ACCESS Act”.
SEC. 2. DETAIL OF PERSONNEL.
(a) In General.—Section 214 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 215) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as subsections
(e) and (f), respectively;
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
“(d) The Secretary may detail Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers to Urban Indian organizations, as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, to cooperate in or conduct work related to the functions of the Department of Health and Human Services.”; and
(3) in subsection (e), as so redesignated—
(A) by striking “subsections (b) and (c)” and inserting “subsection (b) or (c)”; and
(B) by striking “subsections (b) or (c)” and inserting “subsection (b) or (c)”.
(b) Appointment of Personnel.—Section 207(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 209(d)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking “shall,” and inserting “may, at the discretion of the Secretary, after consideration of the criteria described in paragraph (5),”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(5)(A) The Secretary shall develop objective, transparent criteria for purposes of determining whether to grant a person appointed under subsection (a) constructive credit for length of service as described in paragraph (1). Such criteria shall—
“(i) give preference to appointees who—
“(I) serve in a rural or remote (as determined by the Secretary in accordance with objective and transparent criteria established by the Secretary) agency for which the Service is statutorily required to provide services;
“(II) are specialists in an area with a demonstrated workforce shortage;
“(III) serve in an area with significant access to care challenges; or
“(IV) serve with an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or Urban Indian organization (as such terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act); and
“(ii) consider established Federal designation systems and workforce assessments.
“(B) The Secretary shall review and update the criteria established under subparagraph (A) periodically to reflect current workforce needs.”. <all>
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