Veterans Specific Education for Tomorrow's Medical Doctors Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill that addresses two problems: the disparity in access to clinical observation experiences for pre-medical school students and the severe shortage of physicians at VA hospitals. By creating a pre-med observation (shadowing) program within the VA, we both expand access to medical observation opportunities, particularly for underrepresented populations such as minority or rural-based students, and expose America's future doctors to the Veteran health system, increasing awareness of job opportunities within the VA.

When applying to medical school, students who have spent time observing, or shadowing, physicians in a clinical setting have an advantage both with admissions and in deciding on a future specialty.

It is recommended applicants have more than 40 hours of observational experience to be competitive.
Opportunities to observe however are limited and vary widely between universities and hospitals.

Students who are from, or attend schools in rural areas, who are from low economic status, or whose families lack connections within the medical community often find it harder to attain observation hours and are disadvantaged in medical school admissions, contributing to the lack of diversity in our medical professions.

Universities and hospitals with organized pre-med experience or clinician observation programs report having a significantly more diversified participation pool than those who rely purely on personal connections to attain observation opportunities.

On the medical side, the VA is chronically short physicians. In fact, more than 5,100 additional physicians are needed across the VA system as of August 2015, and annually they recruit for over 41,000 positions throughout their medical facilities. This leads to increased wait times and decreased patient care. To fill these positions, the VA must compete with private hospitals that often are able to make more lucrative offers to prospective hires.

By incorporating an organized clinician observation program into the VA, future physicians will be exposed to the unique problems of U.S. veteran healthcare and the VA will create a pool of potential medical professional recruits. Early exposure will encourage future participation either as veteran physicians themselves or advocates within the community.

The VA will simultaneously be helping the next generation of physicians gain valuable experience and addressing their physician shortage problem.

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