Graduate Medical Education (GME) Financing Resource Page
GME refers to the post-medical school, hands-on training a physician must complete in order to become a board-certified physician. This training is generally completed in a residency or fellowship program and is funded mostly by government health programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA. This funding comes with specific rules and requirements you should learn before beginning your post-medical school training. Decisions you make today can affect your training (and available funding) for years to come. Below you will find resources to help you navigate GME training.
GME Funding in the News:
- May 15, 2013: “Hospitals are lining up to offer residencies.” Rome News-Tribune
- May 10, 2013: "Forecast warns of urologist shortage." Family Practice News
- May 6, 2013: "The wages of recruiting rural docs." ModernHealthcare.com
- May 1, 2013: "Starting salaries, benefits rise as doc shortage looms: survey." ModernPhysician.com
- May 1, 2013: GME Funding Remains in Critical Condition." SaveGME.org
- April 29, 2013: Immigration bill aims to ease doctor shortage." American Medical News
- April 17, 2013: "Med school programs in Salina and Wichita face cuts or elimination, chancellor says." Kansas Health Institute
- April, 2013: "Match Day Results Show Need to Increase Graduate Medical Education Slots." AAMC Reporter
- April 10, 2013: Statement from AMA on President's budget expresses concern over cuts to GME
How does my residency funding work? What do I need to know before I begin training?
- AAMC Medicare Payments for Graduate Medical Education: What Every Medical Student, Resident and Advisor Needs to Know. Learn how your Initial Residency Period (IRP) is calculated and how it affects your institution’s funding.
What student loan repayment options are available to me during and after my GME training?
- Report on Student Loan Repayment Options. The AMA Resident and Fellow Section Legislative Advocacy Committee.
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Issue Brief. AMA Resident and Fellow Section.
- Loan Forgiveness/Repayment Programs
- AAMC State and Federal Repayment, Loan and Scholarship Database
- Public Service Loan Repayment Programs
What is the role of a resident / fellow physician?
- Defining "Resident." Report of the AMA Resident and Fellow Section Legislative Advocacy Committee.
- CMS Guidelines for Teaching Physicians, Interns, and Residents
- Statistics on Graduate Medical Education in the United States, 2011-2013
- Primary Care for the 21st Century. American Academy of Family Physicians.
Why are resident and fellow physicians important in our healthcare system?
- Why a healthy America needs resident physicians
- Critical condition: The call to increase graduate medical education funding. AMA Center for Transforming Medical Education and AMA Advocacy Resource Center.
How can I advocate for the preservation of GME funding?
- Government funding for GME is often in jeopardy of being cut or eliminated entirely. Medical students, patients and physicians who are concerned about protecting GME slots to reduce the physician shortage can contact their elected officials through a new website, www.SaveGME.org. The website also contains resources and fact sheets on GME funding and why it is important.
What is the AMA doing to support GME?
- Letter to Rep. Joseph Pitts supporting H.R. 297, the "Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2013" Jan. 29, 2013
- AMA Testimony to the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Governance and Financing of Graduate Medical Education, December 19, 2012
- Letter to Rep. Crowley in support of HR 1180, the "Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," sent March 19, 2013
- Letter to Senator Nelson in support of S. 577, the "Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," sent March 19, 2013
More resources on GME funding
- Alternative Methods of GME Financing. Report of the AMA Resident and Fellow Section Committee on Medical Education.
- Institute of Medicine Committee on the Governance and Financing of Graduate Medical Education. Includes testimony from experts around the nation.
- Graduate medical education financing: Focusing on educational priorities. MedPac.
- Health Affairs Graduate Medical Education Health Policy Brief
