this amendment builds on report language in the underlying bill that encourages hrsa to coordinate with the u.s. department of agriculture to ensure communities have access to the full suite of federal resources and those resources are used effectively for health outcomes. for a bit of additional background, representative bustos and senator smith of minnesota, their bipartisan rural health liaison act of 2018 was ultimately included in the 2018 farm bill. and established this rural health liaison position. the liaison position at the u, sda will be responsible for working with the department of health and human services to better coordinate rural health resources across federal agencies. this new program is critical to rural areas, which have historically lacked access to adequate health care. and this disparity is getting worse. it is vital that we move forward to close these gaps and address the rural shortage of hospitals, medical professionals, mental health services, and other health care resources, to ensure that every family can access the health care that they need. as a member

by requesting that hrsa, the health resources and services administration, issue a report to congress on how to better recruit and train these health professionals, as well as recommendations to address health professional staffing shortages. my amendment serves to underscore the importance of the requested report and to encourage hrsa to not just analyze how these efforts can improve staffing shortages in underserved areas, but how we can increase the number of physicians serving in community health centers located in those areas. delaware, like many states around the country, is facing a severe primary care physician shortage. in 2018 there were just 815 primary care physicians in delaware, down 5.4% from 2013. according to hrsa, of the three counties in delaware, two of to one ed the 2,000 primary doctor to patient ratio. which is a benchmark for shortages. according to a study commissioned by the delaware department of health and social services, this trend is going to significantly impact the state's rural, down-state communities. as hrsa develops recommendations for addressing p

. >> why wouldn't you just give the information to hrsa? >> the plan is by the end of the summer we will have all that information and we want to give people time and it can be complicated but we do intend to provide to hrsa the names of the folks who have signed up and access to the data . >> from my point of view, the community health centers have to do that and they have to know how the money is spent. if were going to talk about transparency and the law says the money is to be spent for low income folks, we at least ought to see how it's spent, that doesn't mean we will tell you how to spend it but that means we know. let's go back to surprise billing. a lot of senators have worked on that. you spent some time on it. it would seem to me that if the problem is out of network dock doors that the solution is to have in network dock doors . >> that seems to be the simplest solution to the problem. it also saves the most money, all three the proposals we put out take the potion out of them. there are no more surprise bills. so the question i