The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the United States will face a shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036. “The physician shortage will worsen—unless Congress acts now,” warns AMA President Bobby Mukkamala, MD.
Several factors are fueling this shortage. A chief culprit is a cap Congress instituted in the 1990s that limits the number of Medicare-funded graduate medical education (GME) slots.
“The cap has not allowed care to meet the major changes in patient population and demographics that have taken place,” wrote Dr. Mukkamala in his AMA Leadership Viewpoints column. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration estimates that more than 19,000 physicians and health professionals are needed to overcome existing national shortages in primary care and mental health care.
Meanwhile, physician payment has plummeted by more than 33% since 2001, once practice cost inflation is taken into account. This has created enormous financial hardships for physicians in private practices, he added.
Congress has responded by reintroducing a bipartisan bill H.R. 3890, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act. Sponsored by Reps. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the bill would add 14,000 Medicare GME positions over seven years: 2,000 total residency slots per year between 2026 and 2032. It would also codify the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program.
“This bipartisan measure will help ensure patients have access to well-trained physicians in their communities by expanding training opportunities in both urban and rural hospitals with the greatest workforce needs,” wrote Dr. Mukkamala.
These measures are critical as the population continues to age, requiring more medical care, and as a large portion of the physician workforce nears retirement age, according to a statement issued by Rep. Sewell. By giving hospitals and health centers the tools they need to increase access, the bill will reduce wait times for patients “and better serve Americans’ health needs,” he said.
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Priority for underserved areas
There are some conditions: no hospital can get more than 75 slots each year, with some targeted exceptions. Under a new provision in the legislation, rural hospitals get at least 10% of the annual GME slots.
In the previous session of Congress, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act generated 222 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House and 18 bipartisan Senate co-sponsors.
AMA Immediate Past President Bruce A. Scott, MD, commended Reps. Sewell and Fitzpatrick for reintroducing the legislation.
“As more Americans become eligible for Medicare each year, the demand for physician care continues to rise. This bill—by expanding federal support for graduate medical education over the next seven years—represents a critical step toward ensuring patients nationwide have access to well-trained physicians in their communities,” he said in a statement.
The Senate is expected to introduce a companion bill in the coming months.
In a letter sent July 7 to Reps. Sewell and Fitzpatrick (PDF), AMA CEO and Executive Vice President John J. Whyte, MD, MPH, wrote that “the AMA strongly supports the passage of the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2025, either as a stand-alone bill or part of a more comprehensive legislative package dedicated to workforce issues, so that our nation’s patients and physicians can have access to the help they need and deserve.”
The AMA will work diligently to add more House co-sponsors to help advance this bill through both chambers in the 119th Congress.
