Nov 18, 2011

 November 18, 2011

AAPI Sends Super Committee Letter on GME Funding

Washington, D.C. - The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) issued the following statement after sending a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction urging them not to cut funding for Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs.

“We understand that Congress is faced with extraordinary choices right now as it must come up with mandatory spending cuts,” said AAPI president Dr. Sunita Kanumury. “However, cutting funding for residency positions should not be one of the choices that is made. We are faced with a physician shortage now, which will only get worse as baby boomers and the current generation of physicians retire. We need to plan ahead and act proactively now to ensure that the future needs of American patients will be met with quality care provided by the doctor of their choice,” said Kanumury.

“We should be looking not just to prevent future cuts to graduate medical education (GME) programs, but in fact, seek additional resources to expand these programs,” said Dr. VijayaLakshmi Appareddy, chair of AAPI’s legislative committee. “Residency positions are crucial to train future doctors. Without them, it does us no good increasing medical school classes and graduating more doctors, if they don’t have a residency program available to match and get trained. Congress needs to listen to America’s doctors on this issue and choose wisely, when it comes to deciding where spending cuts ought to take place,” Appareddy said.

“We are pleased to partner with AAPI across all sections of the organization to speak with one voice on this issue,” said Dr. Vinita Bhagia, president of AAPI’s Young Physicians Section (YPS) and Dr. Avni Shah, president of AAPI’s Medical Students, Residents and Fellows (MSRF) section. “It is crucial that GME funding be protected and increased to give the next generation of physicians the opportunity to train, practice and provide quality care for patients,” said Bhagia and Shah.

AAPI sent the following letter to the co-chairs of the super committee, asking that they avoid funding cuts to GME programs:

November 17, 2011

The Honorable Jeb Hensarling, Co-Chair
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
U.S. House of Representatives
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Patty Murray, Co-Chair
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
U.S. Senate
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Congressman Hensarling and Senator Murray,

We strongly urge you to protect access to quality health care services for Medicare beneficiaries with the doctor of their choice by preserving Medicare financing for Graduate Medical Education (GME).

We are facing a physician shortage, a national crisis that cannot be ignored, and one that must be addressed. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and others project a shortage of 91,500 physicians by 2020 and a doctor shortage of more than 130,000 by 2025. Simply increasing the number of medical school classes will not fix the problem; every graduating doctor must match with a residency program to undertake the required training to secure a medical license and ultimately practice. Therefore, increasing the number of doctors without matching an increase in residency slots, will not only fail to address the problem, it will create a new one by having more medical doctors than available residency positions.

Medicare’s current cap on financial support for GME prevents teaching hospitals from expanding the number of available training positions and prevents new hospitals from establishing new teaching programs. In order to address the doctor shortage, we must plan now by investing in physician training by preserving at the minimum, current funding levels for GME programs. Ideally, Congress should have the foresight to increase funding available for GME programs now to avoid a physician shortage crisis in the future.
We understand the pressure Congress faces in balancing the nation’s pocketbook with steep spending cuts. However, any short-term gain created by cutting funding to residency positions will be matched by long-term deleterious effects on Medicare beneficiaries and American patients, who will simply be unable to receive the quality health care they seek with the doctor of their choice. We respectfully urge you to protect current GME funding levels and hold hearings in 2012 on the impending physician shortage, so Congress can establish the appropriate funding levels for GME to successfully address this problem in the future.

Yours truly,
Sunita Kanumury, MD
President, AAPI

Vinita Bhagia, MD
President
AAPI Young Physicians Section (YPS)

Avni Shah, MD
President
AAPI Medical Students, Residents & Fellows (MSRF)