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"The pending Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act and the fall presidential election raise concerns about what would happen if the insurance expansion promised by the landmark health reform law were to be curtailed. This paper’s analysis of national survey estimates found that access to health care and use of health services for adults ages 19–64—the primary targets of the Affordable Care Act—deteriorated between 2000 and 2010, particularly among those who were uninsured."

"The AAMC is encouraged by the slight increase in the number of residency training positions in this year’s Match and by the new high in the total number of U.S. medical school graduates who matched to a residency training position (16,272 M.D.’s) this year.  While recent efforts have resulted in more residency positions, we remain very concerned that these increases are insufficient to meet the nation’s future health care needs and the looming doctor shortage."

"Out of a total of 2,655 available positions, 1,767 positions filled in the match, with 888 remaining open. Final numbers will not be available until all results are tallied following the scramble that began on February 13."

"Many of the plans to cut the federal budget deficit would drastically reduce the roughly $10 billion in federal support for so-called graduate medical education. Earlier proposals recommended changes that could reduce some support by 30 percent."

"Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Rural Health Caucus, introduced the Primary Care Workforce Access Improvement Act today.  This bipartisan bill would promote the training of primary care doctors in rural communities by allocating a portion of Graduate Medical Education (GME) funding go toward the implementation of a pilot project."

"The Obama administration will announce Monday as much as $1 billion in funding to hire, train and deploy health-care workers, part of the White House’s broader 'We Can’t Wait' agenda to bolster the economy after President Obama’s jobs bill stalled in Congress."

"Many observers have been concerned about a mismatch between the knowledge, skills, and professional values of newly trained physicians and the requirements of current and future medical practice. We surveyed and interviewed Kaiser Permanente’s clinical department chiefs for internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, and obstetrics/gynecology to ascertain their views of the perceived gaps in the readiness of newly trained physicians."

"The number of applicants applying for the first time to U.S. medical schools reached an all-time high this year, according to data released Monday by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)."
 

"The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted Thursday to approve the sustainable growth rate (SGR) proposal it issued last month. Medical groups are already expressing their displeasure. MedPAC’s approved recommendation repeals the SGR for an estimated cost of $200 billion. To cover that cost MedPAC suggests a 10-year Medicare payment rate freeze for primary care physicians and cuts to payments for specialists by 5.9 percent each year for three years followed by a seven-year payment freeze. Some of the other offsets come from durable medical equipment, hospitals and Medicare benefits to seniors."