Neurosurgery Joins Alliance in Urging Congress to Fund Additional GME Slots
On April 21, the AANS and the CNS joined the Alliance of Specialty Medicine in supporting the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act (S. 834/H.R. 2256). Introduced in the Senate by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), John N. Boozman, OD, (R-Ark.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), and in the House by Reps. Terri A. Sewell (D-Ark.), John M. Katko (R-N.Y.), Thomas R. Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Rodney L. Davis (R-Ill.), this legislation would provide 14,000 new Medicare-funded graduate medical education (GME) slots over seven years. The bill builds on the GME provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260), which provided 1,000 new Medicare-funded GME positions.
In determining which hospitals would receive slots, CMS would consider the likelihood of a teaching hospital filling positions and would be required to distribute at least 10% of the positions in each of the following categories:
- Hospitals in rural areas;
- Hospitals training over their current GME caps;
- Hospitals in states with new medical schools or new branch campuses; and
- Hospitals that serve areas designated as health professional shortage areas.
Click here for the Alliance of Specialty Medicine letter to the House and here for the letter to the Senate.