RE: Support for H.R. 944
Dear Representatives McKinley and Welch:
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. On behalf of more than 100,000
specialty physicians, the Alliance writes in support of H.R. 944, which would improve access to care in
rural America through a student loan forgiveness program for specialty physicians.
According to a 2019 statement from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 252
counties in the rural United States are without a single healthcare provider. Further, a specialty such as
urology can only be found in 38 percent of all U.S. counties, and the number of gastroenterologists per
100,000 people varies between rural (.39) and urban (2.55) U.S. counties as well. This variation highlights
the access barriersthat exist for colorectal cancerscreenings and the increased colorectal cancer mortality
rates in rural counties. With one-fifth of Americans living in a non-urban region and only 11 percent of
physicians practicing in those same areas, access to preventive measures and lifesaving treatments is
severely limited for millions of U.S. citizens.
Read full letter here
