Multi-year funding for America’s teaching health centers must be prioritized in any broader legislative package during this congressional session, say U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and 14 of her Republican colleagues.
“Teaching health centers are a vital response to the primary care physician shortage, placing doctors in rural and underserved communities where they are needed most,” wrote the lawmakers in an Oct. 29 letter sent to U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA). “Moreover, history has shown that most of the new doctors are staying either near where they trained or in another medically underserved rural or urban area.”
Rep. Salazar, who led the letter, and her colleagues specifically urged Speaker Johnson to include a multi-year reauthorization for the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program in any forthcoming legislative package.
The members say the proposed reauthorization of the THCGME program should include the requisite funding increase envisioned by the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, H.R. 5378, as well as resources to respond to new THCGME developments, including new teaching health centers, additional residents, and the need to increase the per resident allocation to meet the higher costs of medical training over the past few years, according to the letter.
The U.S. House of Representatives in December 2023 passed the bipartisan H.R. 5378, which would reauthorize the THCGME program through fiscal year 2030. The program supports the training of future physicians in community settings, providing greater access to primary care, dental care, and behavioral health services.
The lawmakers requested enactment of H.R. 5378 in their letter, saying proper funding for teaching health centers (THCs) must be secured in a timely fashion.
“The THC program has over a decade of bipartisan support and is the only federal program investing in the training of future physicians in community settings, rather than hospitals,” wrote Rep. Salazar and her colleagues. “This funding is vital to the THCs’ fall recruiting process timeline and a lack of long-term appropriations creates uncertainty for THCs and medical students.”
Among the lawmakers who joined Rep. Salazar in signing the letter were U.S. Reps. David Valadao (R-CA), Young Kim (R-CA), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), and Laurel Lee (R-FL), who also pointed out that some THCs have either closed their residency programs or opted not to recruit their fourth-year medical students, further exacerbating the healthcare workforce crisis.
“The THCGME program needs a multi-year reauthorization to provide stability, allow existing programs to continue in our communities, and for new residency programs to begin the important process of training new physicians,” added the members.
The letter is supported by the National Association of Community Health Centers, the American Association of Teaching Health Centers, and the Florida Association of Community Health Centers.