Home  Government Affairs   Newsroom   Meetings   Publications	Shopping Cart   Site Map

Contact: Media Relations Officer.

AAMC STATEMENT "COALITION TO PROTECT AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE"
Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.,
President
Association of American Medical Colleges
July 24, 2000

---

Washington, D.C.--The "Coalition to Protect America's Health Care" is a necessary next step in our efforts to raise greater awareness about the deep federal cuts to health care providers that are increasingly threatening the vital services hospitals offer to their patients and communities. Through the Coalition's unprecedented education campaign over the next year, the AAMC is confident that the public, Congress and the Administration will recognize that a financially stable hospital community is an absolute necessity for the health care system to continue to provide the highest quality of care to all Americans. As one of the group's founders, the AAMC intends to be an active member in the Coalition's future activities as it attempts to shape the health care debate.

In addition to supporting the Coalition's efforts to address the needs of the hospital community as a whole, the AAMC will continue to advocate aggressively for relief from cuts called for by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that impact teaching hospitals and graduate medical education. Specifically, the AAMC is working to maintain the Medicare Indirect Medical Education (IME) payment levels at 6.5 percent (FY 2000 levels) in FY 2001 and thereafter. The IME reimburses teaching hospitals for the higher costs associated with a teaching and research environment. The "Teaching Hospital Preservation Act of 2000," S. 2394, introduced by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), and H.R. 4239, introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), would accomplish this objective.

##

Contact: Media Relations Officer