AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, issued the following statement on COVID-19 relief legislation negotiation efforts:
“The AAMC is disappointed that congressional leaders and the administration have yet to reach an agreement on legislation to bolster the country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. It is critical that our nation’s leaders resume negotiations, and finalize without further delay, a comprehensive legislative package. This legislation needs to protect patients and provide additional relief and much-needed certainty to providers, public health professionals, and scientists who are on the front lines of combatting the pandemic – advancing vaccines, potential therapeutics, and diagnostic tests – and dealing with the devastating consequences COVID-19 has had on pre-pandemic operations.
Physicians and researchers at the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals are leaders in addressing this public health crisis as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country and show no signs of slowing down. While we continue to care for our communities and work with Congress and the administration to respond to the pandemic, our national leaders must move quickly to keep people safe and equip our health care providers, scientists, and communities with the resources and policies they need to sustain a vigorous response.”
The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through medical education, patient care, medical research, and community collaborations. Its members are all 155 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; more than 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, including Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 70 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America’s medical schools and teaching hospitals and their more than 179,000 full-time faculty members, 92,000 medical students, 140,000 resident physicians, and 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. Additional information about the AAMC is available at aamc.org.