Family Medicine Zeroed Out.....?

[dr_almondjoy_do]

Excuse me for being naive, but what does this mean? And is it another Chicken Little story? I see the urgency on SDN and AAFP, but as a student, I don't know what this means for primary care residency programs.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[raidermedic]

Yeah I'm not to sure what this means either. Are they cutting funding to fp programs?

 

[deleted6669]

For the second time in a week, the AAFP on June 17 issued an action alert, calling on members to urge their U.S. representatives to restore funding to Section 747 of Title VII in the Public Health Service Act. In addition, an urgent mass e-mail went to Academy members.

The e-mail and alert came on the heels of a House Appropriations Committee vote last week to eliminate funding for primary care education (including training in family medicine), rural programs and area health education centers. The move, dubbed "unprecedented" by primary care education advocates, means the Title VII debate will go to the full House for floor debate this week -- probably on June 23, said Susan Hildebrandt, assistant director of the AAFP Division of Government Relations.

AAFP issued its first action alert June 10, after the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee provided zero funding for Section 747, Title VII.

On June 16, the full Appropriations Committee followed suit despite requests for Section 747 support from family physicians across the country.

"Ask your representative to request time during the general debate on the House floor for the Fiscal Year 2006 Labor/HHS Appropriations bill to speak in favor of restoring funding for Title VII health professions programs," the June 17 AAFP e-mail and action alert urge. The representatives "do not have to speak long, nor will they be given much time, but we would like as large a record as possible supporting these programs for later in the year" when the House and Senate conference committee hammers out final appropriations, say the e-mail and action alert.

Democratic representatives should request time of Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and Republication representatives should request time of Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio.

The AAFP materials suggest making these points to representatives:

* Elimination of Title VII programs "will have an immediate, damaging impact on the training and recruitment of health professions students and the educational infrastructures developed and supported by Title VII."
* Section 747 provides training for the primary care physicians needed in community health centers, which President Bush wants to expand through a 2006 budget increase of $304 million, for funding of about $2 billion.
* Title VII facilitates delivery of care to underserved rural and urban areas.

Section 747 of Title VII in the Public Health Service Act provides funds to departments of family medicine at medical schools for predoctoral education, departmental support and faculty development. The program's goals: Increase the number of family physicians in America and increase the number of doctors practicing in rural and underserved communities.

In addition to urging FPs to contact their representatives before the House debate this week, medical education advocates are asking family physicians to request meetings with their U.S. senators when those lawmakers return to their home districts during the July 4 congressional break. The appropriations bill will go to the Senate for consideration after final House action.

The House Appropriations Committee's action marks a first. In past years, White House budgets often targeted Title VII for elimination, but the House restored funding.


fyi: if i'm not mistaken this affects funding for pa and np programs as well as md specialties of fp, im, peds, and ob.....

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

It looks like it's targeting all primary care fields, so why is FP the only organization making the action alert? Does this affect FP more than Peds, OB, and IM?

 

[espbeliever]

wow... why would they eliminate funding for more doctors when the doctor crush is already bad?

guess ill be going surgery if i cant go primary... thanks congress.... or maybe i should just go to a different country... obviously the usa doesnt want more doctors..................................

wait, does that ONLY affect the private sector or ONLY the military sector?? or both??

if only private sector, then it would make it more likely for ppl that are extremely interested in those areas to go into the military to get the training they want. hmmmm

 

[raidermedic]

I still don't get it. Are they pulling funding from all fp programs or just rural and urban ones? Or is this just money in addition to program funding? Shutting down fp seems a little drastic.

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

Or maybe that funding will be found somewhere else? Why would the president urge for more doctors in community centers, but congress would cut funding to train doctors?

 

[espbeliever]

Or maybe that funding will be found somewhere else? Why would the president urge for more doctors in community centers, but congress would cut funding to train doctors?

that is why im betting the funding is for private sector only... still plenty of military funded fp positions, probablly much more so than get filled, so why fund private sector when you need more "volunteers" for your army? get it??

 

[iatrosB]

I still don't get it. Are they pulling funding from all fp programs or just rural and urban ones? Or is this just money in addition to program funding? Shutting down fp seems a little drastic.

What they are doing is cutting the funding to recruitment type programs aimed at primary care in underserved areas. These are usually refered to as area health education centers (AHEC's). FP is not getting cut, but funding to these programs are which might (will) lead to less recruitment for FP docs and as a consequence, less students going into FP.

 

[raidermedic]

I see, so no programs are actually getting cut but recruitment programs are. OK that seems much better than what I thought previously. Although it is a shame that recruitment in areas that need it is getting cut.

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

While this may seem like a bad thing, I think that although the training of residents will be decreased, it doesn't prevent professionals from working in underserved areas. I still believe there are tuition reimbursement programs and service agreements, or are these programs in danger as well?

 

[AnnaMags]

I just wanted to add this blurp from the AAFP:

Section 747 of Title VII of the Public Health Service Act provides funds to departments of family medicine at medical schools with the goal of increasing the number of family physicians, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

Rural America suffers a serious shortage of health care professionals, McMorris said during debate on the House floor. Title VII "plays a critical role in supporting programs that help train and bring health care professionals to rural areas of our country," she said.

"Retention rates of doctors who have been trained in rural areas within these states show that 89 percent of physicians who have been trained in rural areas have chosen to practice in rural areas," McMorris added. "Federal grants have been instrumental in the development of this innovative program. Congress needs to continue to invest in training in primary care medicine and dentistry, because in areas of critical need it is a vital resource used to ensure access to health care."

 

[Newdoc2002]

Title VII relates directly to FM training as the funds are a big part of most residency budgets. This would hurt FM as many programs cannot survive without this funding source.

We're already in a pinch with a predicted shortage of FP's again and not because of managed care this time.

This title VII stuff does seem to come up every year though. I haven't seen the doom and gloom presented this dramatically though. It usually gets zeroed out and then put back in later after we get our panties in a wad and email our well educated legislators .