Washington, D.C., February, 13, 2009—AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement today applauding Congress for its passage of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act":

"The compromise legislation passed by Congress today takes an important step toward improving both the nation's physical and fiscal health. The federal funding included for research, medical education, and patient care will help ensure that the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals will continue to be regional economic engines. At the same time, this new support will strengthen the missions of these institutions to advance medicine, educate the next generation of doctors, and care for their local communities.

Key among this support is the $10 billion provided by this legislation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We hope that this is the beginning of a renewed, long-term, national commitment to sustained growth in medical research funding. Ongoing bold and visionary NIH funding will benefit all Americans through new treatments and cures, and contribute to our economic strength by creating skilled and high-paying jobs, new products and industries, and improved technologies.

We are also pleased that Congress restored $191 million in capital Medicare Indirect Medical Education payments by retroactively reversing this year's 50 percent reduction in teaching hospital payments. These payments provide crucial support to U.S. teaching hospitals enabling them to maintain their unique missions to supply the highest level of care available, and train the next generation of health care professionals. In addition, the $300 million provided for the National Health Service Corps, and the $200 million included for various Title VII and VIII health professions training programs, will help many of the 64 million underserved Americans obtain the care they need.

Finally, while we had hoped this legislation would extend moratoria on several Medicaid regulations, we appreciated that it includes language urging President Obama not to finalize the Medicaid Graduate Medical Education and intergovernmental transfer rules proposed by the Bush administration. We believe Congress is sending a clear signal to the new administration to continue providing Medicaid funding for these critical programs.

The AAMC wants to thank Congress and President Obama for their support in these challenging financial times and looks forward to the work ahead to improve the health of our nation."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 131 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 128,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 110,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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