U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) led a House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing to examine funding for federal public health workforce programs that help address a looming physician shortage.
U.S. Reps. Jeff Denham (R-CA) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) both spoke in support of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program, which must be reauthorized by Sept. 30.
The THCGME program was created in 2010 to address a lack of primary care physicians in rural and medically underserved communities.
Burgess said the THCGME program was one of several programs considered essential to addressing the nation’s health care provider shortages.
“The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by the year 2030, the United States will have a projected physician shortage ranging from 40,800 providers to as many as 104,900 providers,” said Burgess, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health. “For example, programs like the National Health Service Corps, Area Health Education Centers supported by Title VII grants, and Teaching Health Centers tackle these shortages head on by connecting young providers with underserved communities,” he said.
THCGME residents will provide more than 1 million primary care medical visits in 2017 to underserved communities, lawmakers said.
“Doctors tend to stay in the communities where they are trained, so this bill is especially important for medically underserved areas like the Central Valley that are experiencing doctor shortages,” Denham said. “With the help of these teaching health centers, we can recruit and retain primary and specialty care physicians to our area so patients can see the doctor they need without having to drive long distances.”
Denham is an original cosponsor of the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017, H.R. 3394, which reauthorizes THCGME for three years and at higher funding levels than were reauthorized previously. Denham also introduced H.R. 3451, the Creating Additional Residency Expansion (CARE) Act, to increase funding and create new centers for residency programs.
During the hearing McMorris Rodgers, a member of the Health Subcommittee, also highlighted the nationwide doctor shortage, where the problem is even more pressing in rural areas.
“The physician-to-population ratio in rural communities, like mine in Eastern Washington, is especially stark. That’s why it’s so important that we reauthorize the Teaching Health Center and Graduate Medical Education program,” she said.
In July, the congresswoman introduced a bipartisan bill called the Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Doctors Act of 2017. That measure would reauthorize the THCGME program and create new programs within existing centers or build entirely new teaching health centers.
Meanwhile, the subcommittee also discussed two other pieces of legislation during last week’s hearing.
The Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency Readiness (EMPOWER) Act of 2017, H.R. 3728, was introduced by Burgess and would amend the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to reauthorize a number of health professions workforce programs.
Additionally, the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2017, H.R. 959, was introduced by U.S. Rep. David Joyce (R-OH). It would amend the PHSA to reauthorize nursing workforce programs that support the recruitment, retention and advanced education of nursing professionals.