- The Honorable Terri Sewell
1035 Longworth House Office
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Brian Fitzpatrick
271 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
RE: Support of H.R. 2389, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act
Dear Representatives Sewell and Fitzpatrick:
As the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance), our mission is to advocate for sound federal health care policy that fosters patient access to the highest quality specialty care. As patient and physician advocates, the Alliance writes in support of your legislation, H.R. 2389, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Graduate Medical Education (GME) residency positions an additional 2,000 residency positions each year for seven years to tackle the severe physician manpower shortage.
We thank Congress for taking the first steps to address this issue by approving 1,000 new Medicare-supported GME slots in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and 200 additional positions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. However, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the United States will face a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034. While the Alliance acknowledges the need to increase the number of available primary care providers, we note that specialty shortages will be particularly large, including neurosurgeons, urologists, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists, ophthalmologists, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, dermatologic surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, osteopathic surgeons, and general surgeons. Given the increased demand created for their services by an aging population and expanded insurance coverage, we need to take steps now to ensure a fully trained specialty physician workforce for the future. This legislation will begin to help improve the acute shortage of specialty physicians.
Click here to read the full AANS and CNS Join Alliance in Supporting House Bill to Increase GME Funding.
