Monday, August 18, 2003

Chicago

Reverse cuts to family medicine training

During June, congressional appropriations committees in Washington , D.C. , made drastic cuts to 2004 funding for family medicine training programs. These cuts must be reversed when the bills are considered by the entire U.S. House and Senate.

Family medicine training is supported by Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. These federal funds help train family physicians, the health care specialists most likely to serve underserved rural and urban populations. Research shows that students attending schools receiving Title VII family medicine funds are more likely to go into family medicine or primary care; practice in a rural area; or practice in a health-professions shortage area (HPSA). As of 1999, Illinois had 15 full-fledged HPSAs.

Ironically, the House bill provides an increase of $100 million for community health centers. How can this succeed when nearly half of the physicians who staff community health centers are family physicians? Unless Congress appropriates funds to train family physicians who will staff these centers, the centers will sit idle and patients will be turned away.

Family physicians are the backbone of health care in the United States . We are trained to adapt to the specific needs of communities. This current congressional action will cut the supply of future family physicians to care for patients. U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Springfield) has already voiced his support for health-professions training. Illinois ' family physicians call on our elected leaders to preserve Title VII health-professions funds to train future primary care providers to ensure that Americans have access to care.

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