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Contact: Media Relations Officer

AAMC Statement on FY 2001 President's Budget

Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., President
Association of American Medical Colleges
February 7, 2000

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The Association of American Medical Colleges applauds President Clinton for his FY 2001 budget proposal to provide drug coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. However, the AAMC remains troubled that this Medicare benefit comes at the expense of health care providers. Proposed payment reductions to providers are particularly worrisome due to the financial pressures that teaching hospitals are continuing to experience as a result of unpredictable market conditions and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

The AAMC views the Clinton Administration's budget proposal for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a solid starting point to begin the appropriations process this year. While the proposed funding level falls short of what will be necessary to keep the research community's five-year effort to double the NIH budget by 2003 on track, the AAMC remains optimistic it will be achieved nonetheless.

Specifically, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is encouraged by the NIH's identification of clinical research as one of the agency's four priority areas for the upcoming year. The AAMC also supports the Administration's backing of a Medicare Cancer Clinical Trials Demonstration, which could serve as a model for other diseases in the future.

The AAMC, in partnership with the organization's member medical schools and teaching hospitals as well as the broader health care community, has worked hard to highlight the importance of clinical research and to encourage greater federal commitment to this critical area of scientific endeavor. In recent months, the AAMC has released two reports with recommendations to further strengthen the clinical research enterprise and the association has identified clinical research as one of organization's top legislative priorities for the coming year.

The AAMC also endorses the Clinton Administration's focus on reducing medical errors and improving patient safety. The budget request for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) begins the necessary process for making these objectives a reality. The AHRQ can, and should play, an integral role in developing a better understanding as to why medical errors occur and how they can be avoided.

While the AAMC is gratified by the overall support the Clinton Administration has proposed for NIH, AHRQ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the FY 2001 budget, the association is very concerned by the lack of commitment to the health professions programs sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In particular, the AAMC is disappointed with the Administration's decision to eliminate grants for training in primary care medicine and geriatrics. The goals of the health professions education programs are to increase the number of primary care providers, address geographic maldistribution, provide care in medically underserved areas, and maintain diversity in the health care workforce.

Contact: John Parker (202) 828-0975

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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; 91 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 the AAMC Newsroom.

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