BRETT BUCHANAN
MEDICAL EDUCATION
Feeding the physician pipeline TMA forum promotes GME expansion
BY AMY LYNN SORREL After the 2013 Texas Legislature answered the Texas Medi- cal Association’s call for more funding for graduate medical education (GME), TMA wasted no time mak- ing sure the money gets put into action. In late August, the medi- cal association joined the Texas Hospital Association and the Texas Higher Edu- cation Coordinating Board (THECB) to host a forum to help nonteaching hospitals, medical schools, and other entities take advantage of the nearly $2 million in planning grants that law- makers authorized for new, first-year medical residency positions.
TMA officials say the legislative investment marks critical progress to- ward addressing the bottle- neck Texas faces in physi- cian training as medical school enrollments outpace the number of entry-level residency training slots available. A 2012 report by THECB estimated that at least 63 Texas medical
“We’ve been talking about this [capacity] prob- lem for years, and now we’re excited about the opportunity to do some- thing about it,” said David Coultas, MD, a member of TMA’s Council on Medical Education.
Hospital representa-
Medical educator David Coultas, MD, hopes more state money for graduate medical education will help increase physicians in Texas.
tives say they, too, are well aware of the problem and are willing partners in the solution. At the time this article was written, hospitals and medical schools were under pressure to meet the Nov. 15 application deadline for the two-year, $150,000 planning grants that will allow them to investigate the feasibility of opening first-year resi- dency programs. THECB officials say it was difficult to know just how many hospitals qualify, but it will announce up to 12 awards by Dec. 15. The planning grants are one component of an over- all $30 million increase in state funding the legis- lature approved for GME
school graduates would not find an entry-level residency slot in Texas in 2014. That number jumps to 180 students in 2016. Log on to
http://bit.ly/18ryIZC to read the report. Because hospitals play a critical role in opening new train- ing spots, lawmakers designated the planning grants specifi- cally for those entities that have never operated a GME pro- gram and are therefore eligible for additional federal funding.
for the 2014–15 biennium through the budget and two other bills, House bills 1025 and 2550. Of that amount, $14 million is dedicated to a new GME expansion strategy that includes the planning grants, money for existing but unfilled residency slots, and funding to expand existing GME programs. Because building a GME program from scratch is labor- intensive, however, TMA’s Council on Medical Education or-
November 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60