A new bill intends to increase the number of primary care physicians by removing the cap on the number of federally funded residency slots at teaching hospitals, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
Senator Robert Casey (D-Pa.) introduced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act on Monday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. He is cosponsoring the bill with 11 other Democrats, including Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Sen. Casey said the bill would provide for 15,000 new Medicare-funded residency slots by 2019 in addition to the current 26,000 capped residencies funded through Medicare. Congress has maintained that cap since first implementing it in 1997.
The bill would also require the National Health Care Workforce Commission to submit a report on specialty physician shortages to Congress by Jan. 1, 2016, and Government Accountability Office to report on methods for increasing diversity among healthcare professionals.
Sen. Casey noted that funding is an obstacle for the legislation. "The wheels of legislation move far too slowly, even in urgent matters like this one," he said, according to the report. "I hope they will be reasonable and say, 'We need to make an investment and find the dollars.'"
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