Ribble introduces bill to allow more hospitals to offer residency programs

U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) introduced legislation on Monday that would allow more hospitals to offer residency programs to medical students attending local medical colleges.

The Advancing Medical Resident Training in Community Hospitals Act, H.R. 4732, would alter Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rules that govern the ability of hospitals to offer residency programs.

“Northeast Wisconsin needs more doctors, and research shows that well over half of all graduates stay and practice in the community where they completed their medical school and residency,” Ribble said. “My bill is simply a technical fix to an outdated CMS rule that keeps hospitals that didn’t have a medical residency program 20 years ago from meeting new training needs.”

Under current CMS rules, the number of medical residents allowed to train at a hospital is capped based on the number of medical residents the hospital had in 1996. In communities like Green Bay, Wis., where new medical schools have since opened, the existing rules prevent nearby hospitals from offering residency programs. That means student doctors have to leave the community to finish their medical training.

That situation recently played out when Ryan Berns, a student at the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay, had to leave the community to continue his medical training.

“We should be welcoming medical students like Ryan who want to complete their residency here and go on to practice in our area,” Ribble said.