AHA Letter to House Supporting Medical Student Education Authorization Act

May 4, 2023

Dear Representative Cole and Representative Titus:

Approximately 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations, more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers including clinician partners and 43,000 in professional membership groups On behalf of healthcare leaders in the United States, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is writing to express its support for the Medical Student Education Accreditation Act.

Careers in healthcare are often vocations, and a talented, engaged, and diverse workforce is at the heart of America’s healthcare system. However, long-term structural changes in the health workforce, combined with the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, have left hospitals and health systems, including post-acute and behavioral health care providers, vulnerable to potentially jeopardizing access. We are facing a national staffing emergency. To quality care for patients and the communities they serve.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals already faced significant challenges that made it difficult to retain, build and retain their healthcare workforce. In 2017, more than half of care workers were over the age of 50, almost 30% over the age of 60, and nearing retirement. But according to the American Association of Nursing Colleges, in 2021 she had to reject more than 90,000 eligible applicants. This is due to the lack of faculty and training sites. Hospitals are facing similar demographic trends for physicians, with data from the Association of American Medical Colleges showing her one-third of practitioners will reach retirement age in the next decade. The hospital also reported a significant shortage of relevant medical and behavioral health professionals.

Continued staffing shortages contribute to care team stress and burnout, and our reliance on temporary contract labor means our communities remain vulnerable. Our country not only does not have enough clinicians to care for patients today, it also does not have enough training pipelines for the future. Moreover, the health and well-being of doctors, nurses and all healthcare workers is on an unsustainable path.

These shortages contribute to a national emergency that requires urgent attention. Your bipartisan bill, the Medical Student Education Licensing Act, is one of the key remedies for the current situation. The Act provides grants to public institutions of higher education to expand or support postgraduate education for physicians and focuses these grants to state institutions where primary care provider shortages are most acute. . Training experience in underserved areas increases a physician’s cultural awareness of such areas and increases their likelihood of practicing there.

Thank you for your leadership on behalf of our nation’s healthcare workers. The AHA looks forward to working with you to enact this important legislation.

Sincerely,

/sec/

Lisa Kidder Frobsky
Senior Vice President, Advocacy and Political Affairs