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Contact: Media Relations Officer, (202) 828-0975.
AAMC Concerned About GME Proposal Before Medicare Commission
Washington, D.C., - February 23, 1999 - In a letter to members of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), joined by 63 other health care provider organizations, expresses its concern with Commission Chair Sen. John Breaux's (D-La.) proposal regarding graduate medical education (GME). The letter's signatories support Sen. Breaux's suggestion that Medicare continue to pay for indirect medical education payments, but strongly oppose his plan to move direct medical education payments from Medicare to the appropriations process.
"We believe that all payers, including Medicare, should invest in the direct and indirect costs associated with graduate physician training. All payers benefit from physician training; Medicare sets the standard for other payers and should continue to be the model for other payers," the letter states. "Medicare's support for GME has allowed our nation's citizens to be assured future physicians will be trained and educated to provide the very best medical care. Respectfully, we request that you reconsider this proposal."
The AAMC argues that moving GME payments from the dependability of Medicare to the uncertainty of the appropriations process is particularly troubling at this time given the current instability within the health care marketplace. The training of physicians at teaching hospitals, which varies in length from three to more than seven years, is a complex process that would suffer under the stop and start effect of annual appropriations. The Medicare Commission is expected to issue a report to Congress on March 1.
A copy of the letter can be faxed to you by contacting the Media Relations Officer in the Office of Communications, (202) 828-0441.
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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 87 academic and professional societies representing 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.
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