Congressman Michael C. Burgess [R-Texas] introduced two bills in the House of Representatives Monday with Congressman Gene Green [D-Texas] in a bipartisan effort to address an impending physician shortage that poses a critical threat to our already-ailing healthcare system. The Physician Workforce and Graduate Medical Education Enhancement Act, HR 914, and the Preventive Medicine and Public Health Training Act, HR 916, represent a prudent effort to address this potential workforce crisis.

According to the Council on Graduate Medical Education (GME), "If the nation's population continues to use services as it has in the past, and if physicians practice in the future as they have in the past, the nation is likely to face a shortage of physicians in the coming years." 

“Each generation of new physicians is getting smaller, while the number of people needing care only grows,” said Rep. Burgess on Monday. Burgess, who practiced medicine for over 20 years before becoming a Member of Congress, is especially concerned about the dwindling number of up-and-coming medical students interested in specialized and rural health care.

“The Physician Workforce and Graduate Medical Education Enhancement Act is targeted at the weakest spots of the medical workforce: specializations like family medicine, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, behavioral health, and pediatrics, and rural health programs for small and developing communities,” explained Rep. Burgess.

This legislation will assist small hospitals that serve rural or growing areas by providing them with interest-free loans to establish a residency training program for certain high need medical specialties. As most physicians tend to settle in the communities where they complete their residency training programs, programs created by the GME bill will help smaller and emerging communities to attract and retain the medical professionals their communities will rely on in the future. Under the program, hospitals could receive up to $1 million over 4 years.

The second bill introduced by Rep. Burgess and Rep. Green presents another solution to the looming doctor shortage. The Preventive Medicine and Public Health Training Act promotes a preventive-minded public health system, authorizing $43 million in training grants through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to public health teaching institutions. With the goal of developing Preventive Medicine training and residency programs, this bill would shore up our preventive medicine physician workforce.

“What’s the point of all the stress we’ve been going through in Congress to reform the healthcare system if there won’t be enough doctors to go around by the time we’re done? If we’re going to pour our efforts into bettering American healthcare, we need to cover all the bases, instead of doing spot-treatments.”