60% cut in GME looming. Affect all residencies - Urgent action needed

I tried warning people in the other thread, but all they cared about was DO vs. MD and polishing their e-peens.

Already filled this out, but YES, everyone, please fill this out. I can't even imagine a 60% cut in GME funding!

BUMP! If people have time on here to debate where they met their gf/bf they have time to message their representatives. This is our future!

Lol at the politicians in this country.

This is terrible! I just sent the link to my whole class, and hopefully, they will all email the reps.

I'm a first year, and will graduate in 2015, when many of the cuts might take place.

It literally only takes a minute to fill out the form and send off the letter. DO IT NOW!

ksmajmudar said:

Already filled this out, but YES, everyone, please fill this out. I can't even imagine a 60% cut in GME funding!

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Ditto. I filled it out a little while ago and received my automatic messages back from the politicians.

Done

Filled it out as well. Pass it onto your classmates!

Bump. Our whole school had this sent out multiple times SO OMG they better better have done it.

It's so easy.

Email blast your classmates. 👍

I got this response from one of our senators:

Thank you for contacting me regarding Graduate Medical Education (GME). I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Graduate Medical Education (GME) is the hands-on training phase of physician education that is mandatory in order for doctors to obtain a license for independent practice. Initial specialty training generally takes three to five years and is supported by teaching hospitals.

The federal government provides funding for GME to teaching hospitals through Medicare and Medicaid. In 2010, total spending was $9.5 billion on Medicare GME and $500 million on Medicaid GME.

Throughout the current budget negotiation process, I have supported and defended the important programs, like GME, that have helped generations of Americans work through hard times. Although there are many difficult choices that lie ahead, we must ensure that we pursue a path of shared sacrifice, rather than one that unduly burdens hardworking families who are struggling.

Thank you again for contacting me. I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress works through the budgeting process. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

startswithb said:

Bump. Our whole school had this sent out multiple times SO OMG they better better have done it.

It's so easy.

Email blast your classmates. 👍

I got this response from one of our senators:

Thank you for contacting me regarding Graduate Medical Education (GME). I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Graduate Medical Education (GME) is the hands-on training phase of physician education that is mandatory in order for doctors to obtain a license for independent practice. Initial specialty training generally takes three to five years and is supported by teaching hospitals.

The federal government provides funding for GME to teaching hospitals through Medicare and Medicaid. In 2010, total spending was $9.5 billion on Medicare GME and $500 million on Medicaid GME.

Throughout the current budget negotiation process, I have supported and defended the important programs, like GME, that have helped generations of Americans work through hard times. Although there are many difficult choices that lie ahead, we must ensure that we pursue a path of shared sacrifice, rather than one that unduly burdens hardworking families who are struggling.

Thank you again for contacting me. I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress works through the budgeting process. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

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What does this mean? Is that Senator saying he'll defend the GME as much as possible or is he saying I'll defend it, but bro, we're all taking cutbacks so suck it up?

ccmonopolies said:

Taken from badasshairday from The Anes forum:

Guys, a little off topic but I think we can all take 30 seconds to help this cause which will directly affect us in terms of residency:

Congress is discussing a deficit reduction proposal that would cut up to 60% ($60 billion) in federal GME support and jeopardize residency training programs across the country. Congress is expected to finalize its multi-trillion-dollar package of program cuts in the next few days.

As soon as possible, please visit the AAMC Legislative Action Center (http://capwiz.com/aamc/home/) to send a pre-formatted electronic letter to your Senators and Representatives urging them to oppose GME cuts as part of deficit reduction.

If you reside in Arizona, California, Washington State, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana, Michigan, Maryland, Texas, or South Carolina, it is particularly important to voice your concern, since you are represented by members of the “Super Committee” that will finalize the deficit reduction plan.

http://capwiz.com/aamc/home/

Click the link and the appropriate button "medical student" or "resident" and it is all preset. Also use your personal email rather than your institutions email address when you fill it in (instructions from my school, not sure why it would matter).

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Done but had to change language.

HerbalPlz said:

What does this mean? Is that Senator saying he'll defend the GME as much as possible or is he saying I'll defend it, but bro, we're all taking cutbacks so suck it up?

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Dick Durbin, like all illinois politicians, is a douchebag, if you can't tell from that generated response...

This is probably a better thing to do other than random form letter

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/...led_my_house_representative_about_the/c2wi6an

keep your options open for foreign residencies

the golden age of US physicians is coming to an end

It would be interesting to see what would happen if GME funding was reduced significantly.

I think hospitals will do everything in their power to maintain their residency programs through salary cuts, lay offs, and reduced expenses...so I don't see a situation where there is a large decrease in residency slots. There might even be a push to reduce the length of residency in certain fields.

I think this would just to lead to residents making a lot less money, not making getting a residency that much harder, which is what I would be worried about.

Coupled with the HUGE student loan bubble...the future is very bright indeed.

TAWS said:

It would be interesting to see what would happen if GME funding was reduced significantly.

I think hospitals will do everything in their power to maintain their residency programs through salary cuts, lay offs, and reduced expenses...so I don't see a situation where there is a large decrease in residency slots. There might even be a push to reduce the length of residency in certain fields.

I think this would just to lead to residents making a lot less money, not making getting a residency that much harder, which is what I would be worried about.

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Residents are already making relatively little. But I hope it's the latter, if cuts happen, residents earn less rather than huge percentages of residency progs or slots getting wiped out!

Tell all your classmates about the form! Urge everyone to send it! It takes less than a minute.

If you all don't want stuff to get cut then you have to vote for people willing to raise taxes. If you want taxes to stay where they are then things are going to get cut across the board in all areas of government.

HerbalPlz said:

What does this mean? Is that Senator saying he'll defend the GME as much as possible or is he saying I'll defend it, but bro, we're all taking cutbacks so suck it up?

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He's not saying anything. Welcome to politics.

HerbalPlz said:

What does this mean? Is that Senator saying he'll defend the GME as much as possible or is he saying I'll defend it, but bro, we're all taking cutbacks so suck it up?

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Pretty much the second one.

Although there are many difficult choices that lie ahead, we must ensure that we pursue a path of shared sacrifice, rather than one that unduly burdens hardworking families who are struggling.
<--shared sacrifice equals physician sacrifice
<--physicians are not considered part of "hardworking familities who are struggling"

Please forward this message your classmates, or if you have a student council, ask the secretary to send a message to the whole class!

They should get the huge insurance companies to help fund GME

turkaglew said:

Dick Durbin, like all illinois politicians, is a douchebag, if you can't tell from that generated response...

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Durbin also encouraged people to leave BOA when they tried that stupid $5 fee. See http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...rica-customers-get-the-heck-out-of-that-bank/

TAWS said:

It would be interesting to see what would happen if GME funding was reduced significantly.

I think hospitals will do everything in their power to maintain their residency programs through salary cuts, lay offs, and reduced expenses...so I don't see a situation where there is a large decrease in residency slots. There might even be a push to reduce the length of residency in certain fields.

I think this would just to lead to residents making a lot less money, not making getting a residency that much harder, which is what I would be worried about.

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It is a fascinating question. What would happen? The hospitals have an important stake in this, as residents provide what basically amounts to the hospital as free care. Many attendings also make money on the patients the residents see. I know some who bill for never seeing the patient, only "consulting" with the resident who happens to be on call. Is this the way its supposed to work/ethical? Probably not, but it happens. So everyone has a stake in this claim, especially the residents, who need the training as well as some money to live on. Would the hospitals step up and help support residency positions? What happens if they don't? Will residents have to take out loans for residency years?

If this cut passes, I don't think the number of programs will decrease. However, resident pay probably will.

lildave2586 said:

It is a fascinating question. What would happen? The hospitals have an important stake in this, as residents provide what basically amounts to the hospital as free care. Many attendings also make money on the patients the residents see. I know some who bill for never seeing the patient, only "consulting" with the resident who happens to be on call. Is this the way its supposed to work/ethical? Probably not, but it happens. So everyone has a stake in this claim, especially the residents, who need the training as well as some money to live on. Would the hospitals step up and help support residency positions? What happens if they don't? Will residents have to take out loans for residency years?

If this cut passes, I don't think the number of programs will decrease. However, resident pay probably will.

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Here's what may happen according to ACGME study of residency institutions analyzed by AAFP:

http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/...fessional-development/20111115gmefunding.html

"The study is based on e-mail survey responses from 306 institutions representing nearly 68.9 percent of all U.S. ACGME-accredited programs and 68.4 percent of all resident positions available in 2011.

The survey instructed responders -- designated institutional officials, or DIOs -- to indicate how federal funding would affect their institutions' programs and positions. DIOs were asked to estimate the potential impact under three different funding scenarios:

-funding to remain stable at 2011 levels,
-funding to be reduced by 33 percent and
-funding to be reduced by 50 percent.

Stable funding did not produce dramatic changes in programs and positions. However, the outlook worsened when cuts were introduced into the equation. With a 33 percent reduction in GME funding

-68.3 percent of responders said they would reduce the number of core residency positions,
-60.3 percent would reduce the number of subspecialty fellowship positions,
-4.3 percent would close all core residency programs, and
-7.8 percent would close all subspecialty programs.

Core residency programs and their positions include specialties -- such as family medicine or general internal medicine -- that lead to initial board eligibility by an American Board of Medical Specialties certifying board. Subspecialty programs and subspecialty fellowship positions involve training that occurs after initial board certification.

Significantly, even though there were fewer core, or specialty, programs, core positions (2,783) outnumbered subspecialty positions (1,151); therefore, the majority of positions lost would be core positions. The number of those core positions would drop from 2,783 to 1,656 with this level of funding cut.

The numbers dropped even lower with a 50 percent reduction in GME funding. At this level,

-82.3 percent of responders would reduce the number of core residency positions,
-76.2 percent would reduce the number of subspecialty fellowship positions,
-14 percent of responders would close all core residency programs, and
-20.9 percent would close all subspecialty programs.

A 50 percent funding cut would result in the elimination of 3,037 core medical specialty positions.

LOOKING FORWARD

Nasca said that the increase in U.S. medical school enrollment in recent years was a step forward in finding a solution to the nation's looming physician deficit. However, he added, GME positions have not been increased.

"Now we're talking about significant reductions in the number of GME positions, to the point where we may not even have enough residency positions for the graduates of our domestic allopathic and osteopathic medical schools," said Nasca.

He pointed out that another 3,700 U.S. citizens enter the United States after training in Caribbean medical schools. "There would be no spaces for any of those individuals under some of these scenarios," said Nasca.

The ACGME also is concerned that just discussing cuts in GME funding could cause a reduction in programs and positions, even if cuts don't materialize. Residents represent a significant financial investment, said Nasca, and the anxiety about possible removal of funding "might cause institutions to either limit their growth or even begin to reduce just to be on the safe side."

"I think the irony is that the graduate medical education community is responding to the needs of the public, as expressed in the new (ACGME) competencies and a whole series of other areas, to meet future needs. At a time when we need a stable training environment, we're forced into a situation of talking about dramatic reductions in funding," Nasca said.'

lildave2586 said:

It is a fascinating question. What would happen? The hospitals have an important stake in this, as residents provide what basically amounts to the hospital as free care. Many attendings also make money on the patients the residents see. I know some who bill for never seeing the patient, only "consulting" with the resident who happens to be on call. Is this the way its supposed to work/ethical? Probably not, but it happens. So everyone has a stake in this claim, especially the residents, who need the training as well as some money to live on. Would the hospitals step up and help support residency positions? What happens if they don't? Will residents have to take out loans for residency years?

If this cut passes, I don't think the number of programs will decrease. However, resident pay probably will.

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I agree. Hospitals rely too much on "affordable" labor that residents provide. It's too unsustainable to cut residency spots...cutting their pay is more likely. More debt..more loans. ahhhhh....