---
kind: "section"
citation: "25 U.S.C. § 1616j"
title: "25"
title_heading: "Indians"
number: "1616j"
heading: "Retention bonus"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/25/1616j"
units:
  - "Chapter 18 — Indian Health Care"
  - "Subchapter I — Indian Health Professional Personnel"
---

# §1616j. Retention bonus

- (a) **Eligibility—** The [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) may pay a retention bonus to any physician or nurse employed by, or assigned to, and serving in, the [Service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) either as a civilian employee or as a commissioned officer in the Regular or Reserve Corps[^1] of the Public Health [Service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) who—
  - (1) is assigned to, and serving in, a position included in the [list](/usc/25/5130.md?p=3) established under [section 1616i(b)(1) of this title](/usc/25/1616i.md?p=b-1) for which recruitment or retention of personnel is difficult,
  - (2) the [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) determines is needed by the [Service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18),
  - (3) has—
    - (A) completed 3 years of employment with the [Service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18), or
    - (B) completed any [service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) obligations incurred as a requirement of—
      - (i) any Federal scholarship program, or
      - (ii) any Federal education loan repayment program, and
  - (4) enters into an agreement with the [Service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) for continued employment for a period of not less than 1 year.
- (b) **Minimum award percentage to nurses—** Beginning with fiscal year 1993, not less than 25 percent of the retention bonuses awarded each year under [subsection (a)](#a) shall be awarded to nurses.
- (c) **Rates; maximum rate—** The [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) may establish rates for the retention bonus which shall provide for a higher annual rate for multiyear agreements than for single year agreements referred to in [subsection (a)(4)](#a-4), but in no event shall the annual rate be more than $25,000 per annum.
- (d) **Time of payment—** The retention bonus for the entire period covered by the agreement described in [subsection (a)(4)](#a-4) shall be paid at the beginning of the agreed upon term of [service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18).
- (e) **Refund; interest—** Any physician or nurse failing to complete the agreed upon term of [service](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18), except where such failure is through no fault of the individual, shall be obligated to refund to the Government the full amount of the retention bonus for the period covered by the agreement, plus interest as determined by the [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) in accordance with [section 1616a(l)(2)(B)](/usc/25/1616a.md) of this title.
- (f) **Physicians and nurses employed under Indian Self-Determination Act—** The [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) may pay a retention bonus to any physician or nurse employed by an organization providing health care [services](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) to [Indians](/usc/25/1603.md?p=13) pursuant to a contract under the [Indian](/usc/25/1603.md?p=13) Self-Determination Act [[25 U.S.C. 5321](/usc/25/5321.md) et seq.] if such physician or nurse is serving in a position which the [Secretary](/usc/25/1603.md?p=17) determines is—
  - (1) a position for which recruitment or retention is difficult; and
  - (2) necessary for providing health care [services](/usc/25/1603.md?p=18) to [Indians](/usc/25/1603.md?p=13).

## Footnotes

[^1]: See Change of Name note below.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 94–437, title I, § 117, as added Pub. L. 100–713, title I, § 109, Nov. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 4799; amended Pub. L. 102–573, title I, § 104(d), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4533.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

The Indian Self-Determination Act, referred to in subsec. (f), is title I of Pub. L. 93–638, Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2206, which is classified principally to subchapter I (§ 5321 et seq.) of chapter 46 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 5301 of this title and Tables.

### Amendments

1992—Subsecs. (b) to (f). Pub. L. 102–573 added subsec. (b), redesignated former subsecs. (b) to (e) as (c) to (f), respectively, and amended subsec. (f) generally, substituting provisions relating to physicians and nurses employed under the Indian Self-Determination Act for provisions which authorized appropriations for fiscal years 1990 to 1992.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

Reference to Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service deemed to be a reference to the Ready Reserve Corps, see section 204(c)(3) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.