AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) Chief Public Policy Officer Karen Fisher, JD, issued the following statement on the enactment of a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through November 21 and temporarily extend certain health programs including the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), community health centers, teaching health centers, and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). The bill also will delay reductions in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments through November 21.
“While the AAMC appreciates enactment of a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown, we are concerned that policymakers have not yet completed legislation to fully fund programs vital to patients and communities. The AAMC urges Congress and the administration to work quickly in a bipartisan manner to secure sustained, meaningful funding growth for vital health care programs – including the National Institutes of Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration Title VII programs – in a fiscal year (FY) 2020 Labor-HHS appropriations bill. We also urge them to address cuts to the Medicaid DSH program, reauthorize PCORI for 10 years, and continue funding for the NHSC and teaching health center programs.”
The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. Its members are all 154 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America’s medical schools and teaching hospitals and their more than 173,000 full-time faculty members, 89,000 medical students, 129,000 resident physicians, and more than 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences.