The AAMC held a congressional briefing on Sept. 9 titled “GME 101: Medicare’s Critical Role in Training the Next Generation of Doctors,” to highlight the importance of graduate medical education (GME) and the role of Medicare in funding physician training. The standing-room-only event included speakers from AAMC-member institutions, including vice president and chief medical officer at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Katherine Henderson, MD, and associate dean of GME at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Chandra Are, MBBS, MBA. AAMC speakers included Len Marquez, MA, senior director for government relations and legislative advocacy, and Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, who moderated the session.
The briefing emphasized that America faces a projected shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, driven by an aging population and an increasingly strained workforce. While academic health systems and teaching hospitals are expanding physician training, financial pressures make it difficult to increase capacity. Medicare remains the largest external funder of GME, yet support has been largely frozen since 1997, aside from two recent bipartisan investments. Panelists stressed that without additional Medicare-supported GME, shortages will worsen, and patient access will be further constrained. Speakers also encouraged members of Congress to support the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2025 (S. 2439/H.R. 4731).