Letter to the Hon. Frank Pallone, Chairman Committee on Energy and Commerce and Greg Walden, Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Commerce - Representatives Trahan and LaMalfa Lead Bipartisan Call For Additional Funding For Teaching Health Centers

Letter

Dear Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member Walden:

As Members of Congress who support the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program, we are grateful for the inclusion of a four-year reauthorization of this program in H.R. 2328. A four-year extension will be invaluable given the minimum three-year length of most THC residencies. We also appreciate that the bill reported out of Committee preserved the current $126.5 million funding level. H.R. 2328 will provide much-needed stability to the 56 THCs around the country and to the 737 medical residents currently training to become primary care physicians, thereby providing health care services to an estimated one million patients annually in underserved rural and urban communities.

Many communities would benefit substantially from having a THC to respond to the crisis of physician shortages. We respectfully request that if resources become available, the reauthorization of THCGME will include additional funding that will allow for greater expansion of the program into rural and urban underserved communities. Residents who train in THCs are more likely to remain in underserved areas after completing their residencies, which in turn, helps to increase access to health care in communities that do not have an adequate number of providers. In short, this is a program that works and would be very meaningful to many more communities around the nation.

As you continue to work on this legislation in preparation for consideration by the full House and in your subsequent negotiations with the Senate, we would be grateful if you could continue to contemplate providing additional funds should they become available. These funds would permit existing THCs to recruit for all authorized residency slots and facilitate a modest increase in the per resident allocation that THCs will receive from the Department of Health and Human Services over the next four years.

We appreciate your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

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