USMLE Forum Archives - Miscellaneous - Medicare Cuts Threaten Patient Care
Medicare Cuts Threaten Patient Care
adonis123 - 12-23-10 05:57
Washington, December 3, 2010—AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following comments today on the report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which recommended $60 billion in cuts to Medicare payments for graduate medical education:
“We applaud the commission’s efforts to ensure a fiscally sound nation in which all Americans, including Medicare beneficiaries, are able to access necessary health care services. By prioritizing Medicare physician payment reform, they are taking an important first step in addressing a critical challenge.
However, we are gravely concerned that the commission’s proposed $60 billion in cuts to teaching hospitals will seriously jeopardize our ability to educate and train enough doctors, and ensure access to care at a time when the number of Medicare beneficiaries is rising at unprecedented levels, newly covered Americans are entering the health care system, and the physician shortage is growing.
The proposed cuts will take away a vital source of funds that help teaching hospitals cover a sizeable portion of the costs associated with training the next generation of physicians, and maintain highly specialized services often unavailable elsewhere in communities, such as 24-hour trauma centers, transplant, and burn care services.
Coming on the heels of the $155 billion in cuts that hospitals must already absorb under health care reform, the commission’s proposed additional reductions would jeopardize the future of our health care system by making it difficult for teaching hospitals to fulfill their unique missions of medical education, patient care, and research.
Now more than ever before, our nation must make investments that will ensure all Americans have access to health care. We need to expand—not reduce—Medicare’s support for training the next generation of doctors and make sure that essential health care services are available to everyone who may need them.”
adonis123 - 12-23-10 05:57
Washington, December 3, 2010—AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following comments today on the report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which recommended $60 billion in cuts to Medicare payments for graduate medical education:
“We applaud the commission’s efforts to ensure a fiscally sound nation in which all Americans, including Medicare beneficiaries, are able to access necessary health care services. By prioritizing Medicare physician payment reform, they are taking an important first step in addressing a critical challenge.
However, we are gravely concerned that the commission’s proposed $60 billion in cuts to teaching hospitals will seriously jeopardize our ability to educate and train enough doctors, and ensure access to care at a time when the number of Medicare beneficiaries is rising at unprecedented levels, newly covered Americans are entering the health care system, and the physician shortage is growing.
The proposed cuts will take away a vital source of funds that help teaching hospitals cover a sizeable portion of the costs associated with training the next generation of physicians, and maintain highly specialized services often unavailable elsewhere in communities, such as 24-hour trauma centers, transplant, and burn care services.
Coming on the heels of the $155 billion in cuts that hospitals must already absorb under health care reform, the commission’s proposed additional reductions would jeopardize the future of our health care system by making it difficult for teaching hospitals to fulfill their unique missions of medical education, patient care, and research.
Now more than ever before, our nation must make investments that will ensure all Americans have access to health care. We need to expand—not reduce—Medicare’s support for training the next generation of doctors and make sure that essential health care services are available to everyone who may need them.”
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