S. 1380 119th Congress Senate

SPARC Act

Official title: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities ex… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes.

Introduced: April 9, 2025 Introduced by: Jacky Rosen Democratic · Nevada See on congress.gov

Health Government lending and loan guaranteesHealth personnelHigher educationRural conditions and developmentStudent aid and college costs

Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Mar 19, 2026

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Apr 9, 2025

Introduced in Senate

Apr 9, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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What's happening now March 19, 2026

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Specialty Physicians Advancing Rural Care Act or the SPARC Act

This bill establishes student loan repayment programs to support the provision of specialty medical care in rural areas.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) must carry out such a program for specialty medicine physicians (i.e., practicing in an area other than primary care) who provide care in rural communities with shortages of such physicians. Physicians must agree to a period of obligated service and, for each year of such service, HRSA must pay one-sixth of the principal payment and interest on eligible loans up to a maximum cap of $250,000. Additionally, HRSA may carry out a similar loan repayment program for nonphysician specialty health care providers.

Hearings & markups 1

Member Day to examine S.297, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to require group health plans and he…
Meeting Mar 19, 2026 · 10:00 AM EDT · Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Related & companion bills 1

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Senate

Lobbying activity 62

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY
for AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY · Georgia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
SOCIETY FOR VASCULAR SURGERY
for SOCIETY FOR VASCULAR SURGERY · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
for AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY
for AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY · Virginia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
COLLEGE OF AMERICAN PATHOLOGISTS
for COLLEGE OF AMERICAN PATHOLOGISTS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
for AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
62 filings
SENATE
62 filings
Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
48 filings
Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
47 filings
Veterans Affairs, Dept of (VA)
28 filings
Natl Institutes of Health (NIH)
25 filings
Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
20 filings
Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
19 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 62 filings →

Cosponsors 5