The exterior of the Pennsylvania state Capitol. (Photo by Amanda Mustard for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star).
One day after Gov. Josh Shapiro delivered his budget address, a pair of state House committees advanced legislation that aims to boost health care in rural Pennsylvania and prop up emergency medical services.
House Bill 157, sponsored by state Rep. Kathy Rapp (R-Warren), would create a rural health care grant program to help pay off educational debt of nurses, doctors, dentists and other professionals.
“We are in the midst of a nationwide health care workforce emergency,” Rapp said Wednesday during a House Health Committee meeting. “The commonwealth currently does not have enough medical providers to meet Pennsylvania’s growing health care needs, leaving rural communities’ access to care in a perilous state.”
The program, which would be administered by the Department of Health, would distribute grants for up to $250,000 in one calendar year to eligible hospitals, rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers and birth centers in rural counties or in designated medically underserved areas.
The grants would pay the education debt of a physician, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, midwives, nurse midwives, dentists and dental hygienists. For those workers to be eligible, they must work a minimum of three years full time for the specific entity.
Rapp said the bill arose from a rural hospital roundtable a year ago that highlighted a bevy of challenges facing rural communities across Pennsylvania.
During the meeting Wednesday, Rapp rattled off statistics from the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania that showed vacancy rates for nursing support staff and registered nurses in rural hospitals were 28% and 26% respectively, compared to 19% and 14% statewide. She also mentioned that 47% of women in rural counties live more than 30 minutes from a birthing hospital.
“Even if you do not represent a rural county or a medically underserved area, or if you do not have an eligible facility, like a hospital in your district, you have constituents that rely on health care providers and facilities in surrounding counties,” Rapp said. “The more we can do to help bring providers to those areas, the better off this commonwealth and our constituents will be.”
The Pennsylvania General Assembly will determine the funding for this program and the Department of Health has reporting requirements on the progress of the proposed program.
The bill advanced unanimously, as amended, out of committee on Wednesday, although it was not the first time similar legislation had been introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
During the previous session, House Bill 2382 unanimously passed the House committee in June 2024, but did not advance further.
Taxes for EMS
House Bill 162, sponsored by state Rep. Abby Major (R-Armstrong), would allow cities of the third class to levy an annual property tax to support ambulance, rescue, and other emergency services.
“As you know, there are thousands of municipalities and EMS entities across the commonwealth facing a funding crisis to provide critical emergency services to millions of commonwealth residents,” Major said. “While these entities have their own subscription programs and fundraisers, the revenue still falls short of the rising costs of adequate pay and expensive but necessary equipment.”
She added that this legislation can help adequately pay and appropriately supply these areas with state of the art life saving equipment.
Major said that the city of Lower Burrell, which has a population of just under 12,000 residents, requested the legislation so they could help support their struggling emergency services.
“To be clear, this bill does not enact this tax,” Major said. “This legislation simply extends the same authorization to our third class cities as our boroughs and townships already have, and gives each municipality the ability to take this step if it is needed to keep their emergency services afloat.”
The bill advanced out of the Pennsylvania House Local Government Committee by a 25-1 vote.