Medical school enrollment continues
to rise to meet physician demand
Enrollment in both new and existing U.S. medical schools continues
to expand to meet the nation's need for more doctors, according
to new AAMC data.
First-year enrollment in the nation's medical schools rose this
year by 2 percent over 2008 to nearly 18,400 students. Four new
U.S. medical schools-Florida International University Herbert Wertheim
College of Medicine, The Commonwealth Medical College, Texas Tech
University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine,
and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine-seated
their first entering classes this year, accounting for half of the
2009 enrollment increase. AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch,
M.D., said "the nation's medical schools are working hard to meet
the growing demand for more physicians by boosting their enrollment,
but we must also increase the number of residency training slots
to prevent a bottleneck in the pipeline of new physicians."
AAMC helps make the case for
research funding
On Oct. 21, leaders of the nation's medical schools and teaching
hospitals joined with patients, scientists, doctors, and industry
leaders to thank Congress and the Obama administration for the medical
research
funding included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, and to urge sustained and significant annual budget increases
for the National Institutes of Health. The event helped marked National
Medical Research Day and was organized by ResearchMeansHope.org-a
campaign to raise public awareness for federal medical research
funding. The AAMC is a founding sponsor of the campaign. During
the event, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., emphasized
the importance of a sustained investment in medical research. "The
stimulus was the right thing to do, and it came at the right time,
but it was a short-term intervention," he said. "If we think the
stimulus has done it all, that would be devastating."
President signs VA health care funding bill
Last Thursday, President Obama signed the Veterans
Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009, authorizing
"advanced-year" funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
medical care programs. The bill authorizes Congress to appropriate
discretionary funds for certain programs like Medical Services and
Medical Facilities for one year ahead of the current budget process,
starting with fiscal 2011.
Senate tables physician payment deliberations
The Medicare
Physician Fairness Act of 2009, which proposed to increase Medicare
payments to doctors by repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR)
methodology, failed to gain enough Senate support due to Republican
budgetary concerns. The bill would also have ended cuts amounting
to a 21.5 percent SGR deficit of $245 billion over 10 years. Majority
Leader Harry Reid assured physicians that the Senate would "take
care" of Medicare beneficiaries and providers by passing multi-year
physician payment relief "after health care reform."
On the move
James Madara, M.D., stepped down as CEO of the University of Chicago
Medical Center and Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and
the Pritzker School of Medicine effective Oct. 1. Everett Vokes,
M.D., will take on the role of interim dean and CEO.
Elizabeth Nabel, M.D., announced this week she is stepping down
as director of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to become
president and CEO of Brigham and Women's and Faulkner hospitals
in Boston, effective Jan. 1. She replaces Gary Gottlieb, M.D., M.B.A.,
who became CEO and president of parent organization Partners HealthCare.
Jay Alan Gershen, D.D.S., Ph.D., vice chancellor for external affairs
for the University of Colorado Denver, has been named president
of the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy,
effective Jan. 15. He will succeed Lois Margaret Nora, M.D., J.D.,
in the position.
Edward J. Sherwood, M.D., has been chosen as the interim dean and
vice president for clinical affairs at Texas A&M Health Science
Center College of Medicine. The appointment took effect Oct. 16.
