Physicians, hospitals unite against medical training cuts

{mosads}”Cuts to Medicare GME [Graduate Medical Education] financing likely will exacerbate the physician shortage at a time when we have an estimated 10,000 seniors entering the Medicare program each day and one in every three practicing physicians retiring by 2020. Ensuring access for Medicare beneficiaries requires long-term and rational physician payment reforms, as well as an adequate supply of physicians to care for an aging nation.”

The payments have been targeted since the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare payment policy, said that the payments exceed hospitals’ actual teaching cost. MedPAC has proposed overhauling the payment system to focus on quality within the broader healthcare system instead of narrowly focusing on teaching hospitals.

And the Congressional Budget Office has calculated that consolidating all mandatory federal spending for graduate medical education into a grant program for teaching hospitals would save the federal government about $69 billion over 10 years.