Lawmakers Express Concern Over MedPAC’s Recommendations

One of the more contentious recommendations included in the report involved graduate medical education (GME) funding, used to train medical students at teaching hospitals. MedPAC recommended making 3.5 billion of the total amount that teaching hospitals receive from Medicare conditional on those hospitals meeting performance standards. The standards are designed to improve the experiences of medical students training in primary care or other high demand specialties.

 

MedPAC reasoned that their recommendation would help control costs, create accountability for teaching hospitals, and help train the next generation of doctors in high demand fields such as primary care.  Conversely, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) echoed a February 2010 report from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), which pointed out that teaching hospitals currently run negative Medicare margins and cannot absorb even a hint of a funding cut.

 

For a copy of MedPAC’s June 2010 report click here

 

For video of the Subcommittee on Health meeting click here

 

For AAMC’s February 2010 report click here