In a letter to bipartisan members of the Senate Finance Committee, the Alliance of Specialty Medicine offered comments on draft legislation to improve the Medicare Graduate Medical Education Program. The letter was addressed to Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Michael Bennet (D-CO).
The U.S. faces a significant shortage of physicians, with a projected shortfall of up to 86,000 by 2036. Specialty shortages are particularly acute in fields like neurosurgery, urology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology. The Alliance supports increasing the number of Medicare GME slots to 10,000 for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, with at least 25% allocated to medical or surgical specialties or subspecialties to address critical shortages. Specialty physicians require up to seven years of post-graduate residency training, compared to three years for primary care physicians. This longer training period necessitates immediate action to ensure a fully trained workforce in the future. While the Alliance does not support the creation of a new GME Policy Council, it recommends improving the existing Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME) to include representatives of practicing medical specialists and specialty physician organizations. The Alliance also suggests incentives for training and developing a quality workforce for rural settings, recognizing that certain specialties may not be feasible in these areas due to resource constraints. The full letter can be accessed by clicking on the link below.
