New bill to pass more residency positions

[syoung]

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Members do not see this ad.

https://www.aamc.org/download/331004/data/residentphysicianshortagereductionactof2013.pdf

Do you think this will happen in our short medical school career/lifetime?

 

[DrBowtie]

https://www.aamc.org/download/331004/data/residentphysicianshortagereductionactof2013.pdf

Do you think this will happen in our short medical school career/lifetime?

It could, but the issues are:
1) Questionable perpetuity. If passed it only guarantees 15,000 training years. This is only enough to train 3k-5k doctors based on specialty.

2) Where will these be located? Preference will be given to smaller community type places, but will they provide quality training?

 

[TriagePreMed]

It could, but the issues are:
1) Questionable perpetuity. If passed it only guarantees 15,000 training years. This is only enough to train 3k-5k doctors based on specialty.

2) Where will these be located? Preference will be given to smaller community type places, but will they provide quality training?

I didn't read it all, but it seems all programs can apply for expansion of their current ones. Yes, preference is likely at smaller places. It also forces half into primary care and half for all other specialties combines. I think this is likely to pass and likely very good considering that both MD and DO want to keep expanding. I think it might also give some breathing room for the Caribbean students.

 

[syoung]

With the current rate at which the number of US MD students are graduating, I doubt there's going to be breathing room for Carib students in 4-5 years...

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

given the current fiscal climate, it seems unlikely that Congress will push through increased spending on doctor training. But who knows...

House and Senate Bills Propose Increase in Residency Slots

The House and Senate reintroduced legislation that would expand the number of Medicare-funded residency training positions. Both the "Training Tomorrow's Doctors Today Act," introduced by Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), and "The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," introduced by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), would phase in 15,000 Medicare-supported residency positions over five years. AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., applauded the lawmakers saying, "The increase in the number of Medicare-supported graduate medical education residency positions proposed in these measures would begin to alleviate the doctor shortage facing the nation by allowing medical schools and teaching hospitals to train between 3,000 and 4,000 more physicians a year."

 

[DrBowtie]

given the current fiscal climate, it seems unlikely that Congress will push through increased spending on doctor training. But who knows...

House and Senate Bills Propose Increase in Residency Slots

The House and Senate reintroduced legislation that would expand the number of Medicare-funded residency training positions. Both the "Training Tomorrow's Doctors Today Act," introduced by Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), and "The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," introduced by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), would phase in 15,000 Medicare-supported residency positions over five years. AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., applauded the lawmakers saying, "The increase in the number of Medicare-supported graduate medical education residency positions proposed in these measures would begin to alleviate the doctor shortage facing the nation by allowing medical schools and teaching hospitals to train between 3,000 and 4,000 more physicians a year."

The bolded is sort of misleading. Given that training is 3 yr minimum, you're not producing that many per year rather over the entire 5 years of proposed funding.

 

[goofball]

If it passes, it's a godsend for Caribs/FMGs.

Other than that, remember that the majority of these positions will be in FM, which most American grads don't want to do anyways. So it won't be too much help to us.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

The bolded is sort of misleading. Given that training is 3 yr minimum, you're not producing that many per year rather over the entire 5 years of proposed funding.

Damn lobbyists...

So 15,000 over five years does not mean 3k NEW residency spots per year?

 

[DrBowtie]

Damn lobbyists...

So 15,000 over five years does not mean 3k NEW residency spots per year?

I interpreted it as 15,000 total funded years. I might be wrong. Didn't go to law school to dissect the bill language.

 

[nysegop]

Given the current state of congress, we'll be lucky if this passes within the next 10 years.

 

[Wordead]

There are open residency spots every year, more schools forces students into primary care spots, as is the goal. I don't see why Congress would (or should) increase the number of residency spots until those primary care spots are filled.

 

[nysegop]

I also don't see why people in primary care can't get paid a bit more money. It would attract more people to the fields.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I also don't see why people in primary care can't get paid a bit more money. It would attract more people to the fields.

Because right now they are experimenting with kicking out doctors from their own profession and replacing them with the cheaper NP/PA option.

 

[syoung]

Because right now they are experimenting with kicking out doctors from their own profession and replacing them with the cheaper NP/PA option.

Can we kick out the politicians and replace them with the cheaper mock trial/debate club members?

 

[nysegop]

Can we kick out the politicians and replace them with the cheaper mock trial/debate club members?

Good plan 👍

 

[Docility]

Can we kick out the politicians and replace them with the cheaper mock trial/debate club members?

The sad part is we might actually get better results by doing that. 🙄😛

 

[nysegop]

The sad part is we might actually get better results by doing that. 🙄😛

👍

 

[sazerac]

There are open residency spots every year, more schools forces students into primary care spots, as is the goal. I don't see why Congress would (or should) increase the number of residency spots until those primary care spots are filled.

Do you have a source for this? In the SOAP (opera) thread in over the residency forums, 10,000 applicants were trying to SOAP into the 1,000 remaining unmatched residency slots. American medical school graduates with poor or unrealistic match lists and mediocre Step 1 scores were going completely unmatched and jobless while carrying $250,000 in debt. It was a blood bath. Around post 600 (I think) in that mega thread somebody reported that even Family Medicine filled this year.

There are no easy residencies anymore. And with all those re-applicants from 2013 combined with the increased number of new applicants from the new and larger US medical schools, it's only going to get much worse in 2014.

 

[Wordead]

Do you have a source for this? In the SOAP (opera) thread in over the residency forums, 10,000 applicants were trying to SOAP into the 1,000 remaining unmatched residency slots. American medical school graduates with poor or unrealistic match lists and mediocre Step 1 scores were going completely unmatched and jobless while carrying $250,000 in debt. It was a blood bath. Around post 600 (I think) in that mega thread somebody reported that even Family Medicine filled this year.

There are no easy residencies anymore. And with all those re-applicants from 2013 combined with the increased number of new applicants from the new and larger US medical schools, it's only going to get much worse in 2014.

Huh? 10,000? Is that IMGs, unmatched applicants, etc? I wasn't talking about IMGs - they're being squeezed out, everyone knows that. I couldn't find the thread - link please?

http://www.nrmp.org/data/advancedatatables2013.pdf is what I was going off of. # of unmatched US seniors remains stable. And check table 7. It looks like there's a ton of unfilled positions in various specialties.

As for AMGs with unrealistic match lists and poor Step 1 scores - I mean, is someone supposed to feel bad for people who are completely unrealistic?

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Huh? 10,000? Is that IMGs, unmatched applicants, etc? I wasn't talking about IMGs - they're being squeezed out, everyone knows that. I couldn't find the thread - link please?

http://www.nrmp.org/data/advancedatatables2013.pdf is what I was going off of. # of unmatched US seniors remains stable. And check table 7. It looks like there's a ton of unfilled positions in various specialties.

As for AMGs with unrealistic match lists and poor Step 1 scores - I mean, is someone supposed to feel bad for people who are completely unrealistic?

Yeah but those numbers are pre-SOAP right?

 

[sazerac]

Huh? 10,000? Is that IMGs, unmatched applicants, etc? I wasn't talking about IMGs - they're being squeezed out, everyone knows that. I couldn't find the thread - link please?

http://www.nrmp.org/data/advancedatatables2013.pdf is what I was going off of. # of unmatched US seniors remains stable. And check table 7. It looks like there's a ton of unfilled positions in various specialties.

As for AMGs with unrealistic match lists and poor Step 1 scores - I mean, is someone supposed to feel bad for people who are completely unrealistic?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=990269

Here is the link to the 2013 SOAP thread, a genuine soap opera with over 1,100 posts and advice by people who have massive student debt an no job after residency. Reading it in real time was the ultimate last week.

Of course it includes Americans, Americans who went to foreign medical schools, and foreign people who went to foreign medical schools. Why? Because those are the people who are applying to the match. And when they don't match, they are the people who are trying to SOAP into the remaining unmatched positions.

Your table 7 shows that in 2013 there were only 26392-25463=929 positions that did not fill in the original match, over a 15% drop from last year's 1,100 positions.

I am only disputing your original statement that "There are open residency spots every year". I am saying that after the match and post-match process there basically aren't open spots available on the March 15th match day, meanwhile there are thousands of MD and DO applicants from all walks of life (AMG, USIMG, FMG, re-applicants, etc) that have no residency options at all this year.

 

[Wordead]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=990269

Here is the link to the 2013 SOAP thread, a genuine soap opera with over 1,100 posts and advice by people who have massive student debt an no job after residency. Reading it in real time was the ultimate last week.

Of course it includes Americans, Americans who went to foreign medical schools, and foreign people who went to foreign medical schools. Why? Because those are the people who are applying to the match. And when they don't match, they are the people who are trying to SOAP into the remaining unmatched positions.

Your table 7 shows that in 2013 there were only 26392-25463=929 positions that did not fill in the original match, over a 15% drop from last year's 1,100 positions.

I am only disputing your original statement that "There are open residency spots every year". I am saying that after the match and post-match process there basically aren't open spots available on the March 15th match day, meanwhile there are thousands of MD and DO applicants from all walks of life (AMG, USIMG, FMG, re-applicants, etc) that have no residency options at all this year.

Fair enough. Statement withdrawn about tons of open residencies. That was a statement more based on experience from a few years ago, I suppose - cardiothoracic where I was working had multiple unfilled spots.

 

[syoung]

Plus there's all the new medical schools opening up, either in the past 2-3 years or through the next 2-3 years. They will graduate plenty of new AMGs... of which I will be a part of in 2017.

I'm HELLA studying hard.

 

[Law2Doc]

given the current fiscal climate, it seems unlikely that Congress will push through increased spending on doctor training. But who knows...

House and Senate Bills Propose Increase in Residency Slots

The House and Senate reintroduced legislation that would expand the number of Medicare-funded residency training positions. Both the “Training Tomorrow’s Doctors Today Act,” introduced by Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), and “The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013,” introduced by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), would phase in 15,000 Medicare-supported residency positions over five years. AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., applauded the lawmakers saying, “The increase in the number of Medicare-supported graduate medical education residency positions proposed in these measures would begin to alleviate the doctor shortage facing the nation by allowing medical schools and teaching hospitals to train between 3,000 and 4,000 more physicians a year.”

Two things will make this unlikely to pass. First, it costs the taxpayers money, at a time when the country doesn't have any. Second, the AAMC is lobbying on both sides of the fence on this one. They are lauding this plan, but at the same time trying to increase med school slots to squeeze the offshore crowd out if business (something that is helped significantly by having a more finite number of residency slots to push up against).

 

[Danbo1957]

Two things will make this unlikely to pass. First, it costs the taxpayers money, at a time when the country doesn't have any.

From what I have been able to determine, it costs roughly $300k per residency to train a FM or IM doctor in a US hospital. If CMS picks up that tab in full, then you're talking real money to increase enough residency slots to meet projected PCP demand. We could give give up a couple of new navy ships to do it; likely?

A cool $1billion for this baby:

http://www.ussnewyork.com/wordpress/2008/08/22/latest-in-lpd-series-headed-for-navy-delivery/





.

 

[syoung]

From what I have been able to determine, it costs roughly $300k per residency to train a FM or IM doctor in a US hospital. If CMS picks up that tab in full, then you're talking real money to increase enough residency slots to meet projected PCP demand. We could give give up a couple of new navy ships to do it; likely?

A cool $1billion for this baby:

http://www.ussnewyork.com/wordpress/2008/08/22/latest-in-lpd-series-headed-for-navy-delivery/





.

Or each 1 million to 2 million salaried president of a non profit hospital (if it nets 300 million) could give up half his salary for a year to squeeze in those extra 2-4 residents/year!