Bipartisan group of senators reveals plan to address physician shortages. Will radiology benefit?
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has revealed a plan to address physician shortages in the U.S., with the benefit to radiology remaining unclear.
Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and colleagues announced the new “policy outline” on May 24. The proposal comes after the committee held an April hearing to discuss Medicare payment reform for radiologists and other physicians.
Wyden and colleagues announced the follow-up Friday, with plans to “expand and improve” the distribution of Medicare-supported residency training positions in rural areas and “specialties in shortage.” The outline is focused primarily on primary care and psychiatry but does leave leeway for possible benefit in imaging.
“It has become clear that there are not enough physicians to meet the healthcare needs of Americans,” the group of eight senators wrote. “As a bipartisan group of members of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Medicare Graduate Medical Education program, we are interested in advancing additional Medicare GME proposals to address healthcare workforce shortages and gaps.”
In making their case, senators cited stats from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which estimates the U.S. will face a shortage of 139,940 physicians across all specialties by 2036. Senate Finance is proposing to add an unspecified number of Medicare GME slots from fiscal 2027 through 2031. At least 25% would go toward primary care residencies while another 15% would address shortages in psychiatry.
In addition, senators are suggesting establishing a time-limited GME Policy Council consisting of nine members representing academic medical institutions, hospitals in underserved communities, medical students and healthcare workforce experts. The group would be tasked with making recommendations to the Health and Human Services secretary about how to distribute the new residency slots, including the specific specialties beyond primary care and psychiatry.
“We have heard concerns that the Medicare GME program does not have a mechanism to support residencies that are projected to be in shortage,” the policy outlines states. “While Congress can direct CMS to allocate a specific percentage of GME slots toward certain specialties, there should be a better mechanism to distribute slots to specialties in shortage that does not require Congressional action.”
In recent years, Congress has added 1,200 new Medicare GME slots including 200 via the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The Radiology Business Management Association and American College of Radiology commended Congress for this action while expressing concern about restrictions placed on these new positions.
“While there is a definite need to focus on mental health and psychiatry, several specialties are missing out on new residency slots,” the two associations wrote last year. “We recommend that Congress pass legislation to fund GME slots specifically designated for radiology.”
ACR also submitted testimony to the Senate Finance Committee May 2, urging lawmakers to pass the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act. Reintroduced in April 2023, S.1302 would lift the cap on the number of Medicare-funded GME positions and gradually raise the total tally by 14,000 over the next seven years.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also are supporting the draft proposal.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.