Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012
For Residents
More primary care residency slots sought in new bill
A new bill that would expand the cap on Medicare-supported training slots for doctors by 15,000 positions was introduced last month in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2012, from Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), would place an emphasis on expanding residency slots in primary care to alleviate the impending physician shortage, which could swell to 91,000 doctors by 2020.
"Raising the resident cap is a critical first step in addressing the doctor shortage; however, we must also ensure our teaching hospitals have all the resources they need to develop a highly trained physician workforce," Crowley said in a press release announcing the bill.
The bill is one of three physician shortage reduction measures currently pending in Congress. The others are the Resident Physician Shortage Act of 2011, and the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction and Graduate Medical Education Accountability and Transparency Act, which would amend title XVII of the Social Security Act to provide for the distribution of additional residency positions.
Register for AMA-RFS Interim Meeting
The AMA Resident and Fellow Section (RFS) will host its 36th Interim Meeting Nov. 8-10 at the Honolulu Convention Center. Registration is now open. You can also take a more active leadership role at the meeting by becoming a convention committee member. Convention committee activities range from helping formulate AMA-RFS policy to planning social and networking events.
Learn more about important activities and deadlines associated with the 2012 AMA-RFS Interim meeting.
