Save Graduate Medical Education

Match Day via Flickr user University of Minnesota

Hi all,

In about 2016 (the year that I graduate) there will be a shortage of residency positions for newly-graduated medical students to complete their training - these training programs are called "Graduate Medical Education."  In March of this year 528 graduates were unable to get a residency spot, a number which will increase every year.  While the number of medical students is increasing because new medical schools are opening and existing schools are accepting more students, the number of GME spots is not increasing accordingly.

Congress is not doing anything to increase funding for GME, which currently is a fixed amount that comes from Medicare.  This means that soon medical students will be unable to find places to train and that the government is not doing anything to help with the doctor shortage.  While everyone is bemoaning the shortage of primary care physicians, a a 2014 budget calls for reducing GME support by $11 billion over the next decade that will reduce the number of these positions.

I sent a letter to my congressmen and I encourage you to do so, too!  This issue is near and dear to me, so thank you for reading.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Here's a little infographic on the issue and the letter to sign: http://savegme.org/

If you want to read a good opinion article on the issue, read this: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1306445

Love,

fiendbyname