AAFP proposes law to fix GME funding problems
Congress will soon consider a proposal AAFP developed.
It zeroes in on a topic crucial to the specialty: technical problems with funding for graduate medical education.
In late June, two senators introduced AAFP's proposal, in effect cloning it. AAFP Board Chair Patrick Harr, M.D., of Maryville, Mo., wrote all senators July 8 about the bills.
"We ask for your support and cosponsorship of the bills, each titled the Graduate Medical Education Technical Amendments of 1998," said Harr.
S. 2216 was introduced by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and S. 2259 (identical to S. 2216) was introduced by Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Ark.
The Collins/Murkowski bills would correct problems stemming from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Namely:
- The BBA sets hospital-by-hospital caps on residency slots to receive Medicare funding, based on the number of residents trained in the hospitals in 1996. The new bills would expand the caps to include residents training in community settings in 1996. Most of those residents were FPs.
- The new bills would allow urban residencies that sponsor rural training tracks to gain an exception to BBA funding caps (for rural tracks only).
- The new bills would grant single-residency hospitals an exception to BBA caps so the hospitals may meet community needs for primary care physicians. By contrast, multiple-residency hospitals can shift their residency slots from less-needed specialties to those in higher demand, such as family practice. Among the 300 single-residency hospitals, 191 have family practice residencies.
Over the years, the AAFP has drafted many bills, including proposals to appropriate and authorize funds for family practice training.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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