The AAMC joined 21 organizations in a May letter of support recommending $778 million for the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program (PDF) in fiscal year 2026. Addressed to House and Senate Appropriations Committee Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Subcommittee leadership, the letter requested continued and increased support for the CHGME program and the pediatric health care workforce. The letter outlined the role and importance of the CHGME program in strengthening the pediatric physician pathway, noting that the program trains the majority of the nation’s pediatricians and pediatric specialists.
The CHGME program, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce, funds freestanding children’s hospitals that participate in an approved GME program, have a Medicare payment agreement, and whose inpatients are predominantly under 18 years of age.