The
Massachusetts Medical Society wishes to be recorded in support of several bills
that will help assure that patients have access to primary care physicians in
all parts of the Commonwealth. Together, these bills promote a pipeline of highly
trained primary care physicians through the entire continuum of the retention
process, from start (including funding primary care physician GME programs) to
finish (finding innovative loan repayment strategies for physicians working in
community health centers.) In particular, the Medical Society supports the
following bills as detailed below:
Senate bill 608, An Act relative to the primary care workforce
development and loan repayment grant program at community health centers
The
Medical Society strongly supports S. 608 which would continue a
successful loan repayment program that is essential to the recruitment and
retention of primary care physicians and other clinicians at community health
centers. The average medical student now carries over $160,000 in student after
years of medical school residencies, and fellowships. This often forces young
physicians to make a difficult decision upon completion of their training about
where to begin their professional careers as attending physicians. Young
physicians often must weigh altruistic ideals with practical realities when
deciding between lower paying jobs in communities of need and higher paying jobs
in other settings. Repayment programs help many young physicians take jobs at
community health centers—providing the care that they long aspired to in
medical training—in manners that allow them to pay their loans and begin their
life post-training.
Most
importantly, S. 608 will benefit patients by ensuring an ample pipeline of
primary care physician and other clinicians at community health centers which
provide such vital services to so many communities that have historically had
challenges accessing primary care. The Medical Society strongly supports S 608
as an important means of assuring the highest quality of care in communities
served by FQHC clinics.
Senate bill 626, An Act to promote
graduate medical education
Senate bill 636, An Act to improve access to family physicians
The
Medical Society strongly supports each of these bills which would help fund
graduate medical education programs for primary care and family medicine
(S.636) and primary care, behavioral health, and other physician shortages
(S.626). The Medical Society continues to believe that the best means by which
to address concerns of access to primary care is by training more physicians in
the Commonwealth. Physicians not only provide exemplary primary care but they
can also lead teams of multiple layers of health care providers to efficiently
provide team-based health care. Community health centers have long been
settings of excellence of team-based care, so graduate medical education
programs in these settings allow family physicians and other primary care
physicians in training to learn primary care in models of the future. In
addition, non-hospital based residency programs help promote tomorrow’s
physicians to be trained in the community rather than at hospitals. Diversity
of residency settings is important to ensure that physicians continue to seek
primary care jobs across practice settings, especially in light of access to
care challenges for populations served by community health centers.
The MMS urges the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing to report S.608,
S.626, and S. 636 out of Committee favorably.
