CMS has awarded 400 additional Medicare-funded residency positions to 135 hospitals across 37 states, an effort that aims to further address the nation’s growing physician shortage.
About 62% of the new slots will support primary care and psychiatry programs, CMS said in a news release shared with Becker’s. The distribution marks the fourth round of graduate medical education positions funded under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the first under the 2023 version. With this round, CMS has allocated more than half of the 1,200 positions authorized by Congress.
Residency programs are a critical part of the physician pipeline, but Medicare covers only part of their cost, leaving hospitals to fund the rest, especially for positions above their Medicare cap. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects the U.S. could face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, driven by an aging population and workforce.
Industry groups are urging lawmakers to pass the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2025, which would add 14,000 Medicare-supported slots over seven years.
