COGME Recommends Reauthorization
With Existing Mandate
April 26, 2002- At its meeting April 11-12 in Bethesda,
Maryland, the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME)
discussed its future. Members of the Council agreed unanimously
to recommend to the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) that COGME be reauthorized and that the scope of its
mandate and its composition remain unchanged. Although important
issues such as preparing a trained workforce for possible
future bioterrorism attacks are not included in its current
legislative authority, the Council felt that it would be able
to address such issues as needed, usually in collaboration
with other groups and outside experts. Legislative authorization
for COGME ends in September 2002, and the Council is preparing
a final report that points to its policy contributions in
support of reauthorization.
The meeting opened with perspectives on the adequacy of the
future physician supply from AAMC Senior Vice President Michael
Whitcomb, M.D., as well as Richard Cooper, M.D., Jonathan
Weiner, Sc.D., Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D., and Kevin Grumbach,
M.D. These presentations echoed the discussion in the January/February
2002 issue of Health Affairs, "Does a Specialist Physician
Shortage Loom?" As in the earlier written exchange, these
experts differed not only in their assessments of the existence
and extent of any shortage, but in their approaches to analyzing
the question. Dr. Whitcomb noted that AAMC does not have a
position on the adequacy of the supply, but is very interested
in these questions and hopes to see more and better analysis
directed at answering them.
Information:
Sunny Yoder, Director of Resident Affairs
AAMC Health Care Affairs
syoder@aamc.org
(202) 828-0497
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