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Contact: Media Relations Officer, (202) 828-0975.
Rep. Cardin Introduces All-payer Graduate Medical Education Act
Washington, D.C., March 23, 1999 -- The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) commends Rep. Benjamin Cardin's (D-Md.) leadership effort to establish a stable graduate medical education (GME) funding system for the training of our nation's health professionals. At a Capitol Hill briefing today, Rep. Cardin announced plans to introduce the All-Payer Graduate Medical Education Act.
"The AAMC is pleased to endorse the concepts embodied in the All-Payer Graduate Medical Education Act. Rep. Cardin's bill is a valued stepping stone toward the creation of dedicated, stable funding for the training of doctors and the other valued contributions U.S. teaching hospitals provide," said AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. "The framework of this bill is correct; it maintains Medicare's historic commitment to the support of GME and recognizes the analogous obligations of all payers of health services."
The AAMC appreciates the opportunity presented in Rep. Cardin's bill to address the difficult issue of designing a plan to reduce the number of first-year residency training positions. In addition, the Association supports the bill's provisions to assure the survival of our nation's rural and safety net hospitals. In the current health care market, teaching hospitals face the greatest risk of all hospitals. The AAMC has long asserted that all health care payers, including Medicare, benefit from and should invest in physician training. While the AAMC supports many of the provisions contained within Rep. Cardin's bill, the Association is concerned that the actual costs of GME currently exceed the funds provided in the legislation. The AAMC is committed to working with Rep. Cardin on this issue and eventually securing passage of an all-payer bill.
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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 nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.
Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.
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