Bill
SB 1912
SB 1912 broadens the Underserved Health Care Provider Workforce program to cover optometrists, more facilities, and HPSA/MUA designations, boosting service in underserved areas.
Status and sponsor
- Introduced Feb 6, 2025 by Sen. Mattie Hunter.
- As of June 2, 2025: Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 filed and bill re‑referred to Assignments (previous referral to Appropriations‑Education).
- Effective date (if enacted): January 1, 2026.
Purpose
- Amend the Underserved Health Care Provider Workforce Act to broaden eligible students, providers, and facility types for scholarship and loan‑repayment programs; align shortage‑area language with federal designations; add optometry as an explicitly covered profession; and change how recovery payments are deposited.
Key provisions and changes
- Redefines "Designated Shortage Area": narrows/reframes statutory language to refer to areas designated as a medically underserved area (MUA) or a health professional shortage area (HPSA) (rather than the prior mix of physician shortage area, medically underserved area, or critical health manpower shortage area). This aligns the statute with federal HPSA/MUA terminology.
- Changes "eligible medical student" to "eligible student": expands covered students to include those studying optometry at Illinois optometry schools (in addition to medicine and chiropractic), and allows such students to agree to practice in a designated shortage area as an optometrist or anesthesiologist, earning one year of service credit for each scholarship year.
- Adds an explicit definition of "Optometrist": defines optometrist as a Doctor of Optometry licensed under the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987.
- Expands "Medical facility": now explicitly includes rural health centers, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), FQHC look‑alikes, and optometric offices among facilities that qualify for placement.
- Expands provider categories: optometrists are added to the list of eligible health care providers; obstetricians/gynecologists are included in the "primary care physician" category (and a prior, different statutory definition of primary care physician is repealed).
- Enforcement / repayment: scholarship and loan‑repayment recipients who fail to satisfy service obligations must pay a penalty equal to three times the annual scholarship or loan‑repayment grant for each year of default. These recovered amounts will be deposited back into the fund from which the payment originally came (rather than into the Community Health Center Care Fund).
- Procedural detail: recipients have 30 days after default to enter into a repayment contract; interest (9% per annum) applies if payments are missed as specified.
Who is affected
- Students: medical, chiropractic, and newly included optometry students seeking scholarships under the Act.
- Providers and employers: optometrists, anesthesiologists, obstetricians/gynecologists, rural health clinics, FQHCs, FQHC look‑alikes, and optometric offices that serve in designated shortage areas.
- State agencies and funding: Department administering scholarships/loan repayments and the funds that finance those programs (recovery deposits return to the originating fund).
Potential impact
- Broadens program reach to additional professions (notably optometry and anesthesiology), and adds more types of placement sites, potentially increasing staffing options for underserved areas.
- Aligning to HPSA/MUA terminology may improve coordination with federal designations and funding priorities.
- Stronger financial penalties and fund‑specific repayment deposits could alter program finances and enforcement outcomes.
Limitations/notes
- Some amendment text indicates additional insertions (Senate Amendment 001) clarifying included specialties; final scope depends on the version enacted.
- Implementation details (award amounts, program capacity, and administrative rules) remain subject to Department rules and available appropriations.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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