AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, May 11 applauded Reps. Phil Roe, MD, (R-Tenn.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) for re-launching the Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus (CAMC) and serving as its co-chairs. The CAMC is a bipartisan group of members of Congress who are dedicated to maintaining and strengthening our nation’s medical education system and promoting excellence in physician training, medical research, and patient care.
Dr. Kirch praised the caucus, stating, “As we collaborate with Congress and health care stakeholders to address federal budget challenges and a looming physician shortage of up to 105,000 doctors by 2030, the work of the caucus to emphasize the critical role that medical schools and teaching hospitals play in maintaining our nation’s health security is more important than ever.”
Dr. Roe and Rep. Castor circulated a Dear Colleague Letter to invite their colleagues to join the caucus. The letter notes, “We recognize the critical role our nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals play in both the delivery of health care and the development of our future health care workforce. Therefore, the caucus will explore sound policy approaches to ensure there is an adequate supply of qualified physicians capable of meeting the health care needs of our nation. We are now on the cusp of a crisis in access to both primary and specialty physicians due to this mounting physician shortage and a growing, aging population. Supporting our nation’s graduate medical education (GME) and health care workforce systems are pivotal to addressing this issue.”