Bill Text: NJ AR94 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Congress to increase the number of medical residency positions funded by the federal government.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee [AR94 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-AR94-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CAROLINE CASAGRANDE
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Congress to increase the number of medical residency positions funded by the federal government.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging Congress to increase the number of federally funded medical residency positions.
Whereas, An adequate supply of physicians is essential in order to ensure that New Jersey residents have access to necessary medical care; and
Whereas, The aging of the population of New Jersey and the United States is leading to an increasing need for health care; and
Whereas, Many doctors of the baby boom generation will retire in the coming years, leaving a growing gap in the physician workforce; and
Whereas, The New Jersey Physician Workforce Task Force has estimated that the State will face a shortfall of 1,000 primary care physicians and 1,800 specialists by 2020; and
Whereas, Implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, will exacerbate the doctor shortage by adding thousands of individuals to health insurance rolls without expanding the health care work force to provide care; and
Whereas, Providing medical residency positions is one way that the State can encourage medical school graduates to stay in New Jersey and attract students from outside of the State; and
Whereas, In State Fiscal Year 2014, New Jersey appropriated a record $100 million to support graduate medical education programs in the State; and
Whereas, The federal government provides the largest share of financing for medical residencies, primarily through the Medicare program, which provides approximately $340 million per year; and
Whereas, In 1997, the Balanced Budget Act imposed a freeze on the number of residency positions in existing graduate medical education programs funded by Medicare; and
Whereas, Under current federal law, the only way to increase the number of funded residency positions in the State is for a non-teaching hospital to become accredited as a teaching hospital, and then wait for five years until a new cap is established; and
Whereas, A bill currently before Congress, which is entitled the "Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," would allow for a increase in the number of residency positions funded by Medicare; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The General Assembly urges the United States Congress to enact the "Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013" or similar legislation to increase the number of medical residency positions funded by Medicare.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President and Vice-President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and every member of Congress elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This Assembly Resolution urges the United States Congress to increase the number of medical residency positions funded by the federal government.
Providing an adequate supply of physicians is essential to ensuring that the residents of New Jersey have access to medical care. However, it is expected that the State will face a significant and accelerating shortfall within less than a decade. This is driven by the retirement of current physicians, the increasing health care needs of the aging population, and the increase in demand for health care that is expected to result from the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Funding for medical residency positions has traditionally been provided primarily by the federal government, but funding has been frozen since 1997, reducing hospitals' ability to support residency positions. An increase in the number of funded residency positions, such as would be provided by the "Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013," would take an important step in alleviating this critical problem.
