Sens. Introduce Bipartisan Reauthorization of Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Program
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) have introduced the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act to ensure that children’s hospitals have the support they need to provide adequate medical education for training of pediatricians and other residents. Specifically, this bipartisan legislation would reauthorize funding to the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program.
“Children have very different medical needs from adults and it is essential that we have a specialized workforce to care for them,” said Senator Casey. “Each year through this program, over 5,000 residents are trained to care for our youngest patients.”
“The health of children in Georgia and across the country is of utmost importance, and this continued investment through the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education program will help ensure our pediatric workforce and healthcare facilities are receiving the support necessary to deliver quality care,” said Senator Isakson.
U.S. Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Cornyn (R-TX), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Rob Portman (R-OH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and David Perdue (R-GA) are cosponsors of this legislation.
More on the CHGME Reauthorization:
For over a decade, the CHGME program has provided children’s teaching hospitals with federal support for job training for physicians who care for children. The program was first enacted by Congress in 1999 with bipartisan support, and has been reauthorized three times since then, each time with broad bipartisan support. The program provides funding to over 50 freestanding children’s hospitals around the country to support the training of pediatricians and other residents.
Before the CHGME program was created, the number of residents who trained in freestanding children’s hospitals declined by over thirteen percent. The CHGME program has reversed that trend and today these hospitals train approximately half of all pediatricians.
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