AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, issued the following statement regarding passage of an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018 by the Senate:
“The AAMC is thankful that the Senate has joined with the House and has passed the bipartisan omnibus spending bill. By investing in programs across the health care continuum, the legislation provides support for patients and the medical schools and teaching hospitals that work to turn hypotheses into healing. We again applaud Senate and House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairs Roy Blunt and Tom Cole and Ranking Members Patty Murray and Rosa DeLauro for their long standing efforts to further medical research. Along with our members, we look forward to working with them and other lawmakers to continue to improve the health of all.
Budget increases for the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies that fund medical research, as well as investment in the health care workforce, will help deliver vital care to patients battling life-threatening and chronic diseases, and those in underserved and vulnerable communities.
We urge the President to sign this bill expeditiously to avoid any further delay in strengthening the nation’s health security.”
The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. Its members are all 154 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America’s medical schools and teaching hospitals and their more than 173,000 full-time faculty members, 89,000 medical students, 129,000 resident physicians, and more than 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences.