U.S. Senators have introduced a bill that would remove a cap on the number of Medicare-funded graduate medical education positions to help with the nation's physician shortage, the Mountain Home Observer reported May 1.
The bill would also create an additional 14,000 positions over the next seven years and will prioritize positions in hospitals located in states with new medical schools, training over their caps, in rural areas and serving Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas was one of the senators who introduced the bill. Arkansas has one of the lowest rates of active patient care physicians per 100,000 people. Additionally, between one-third and one-half of medical school graduates enroll in residency training outside of the state, as there are nearly half as many available residency positions as medical school graduates in the state.