Preventing Physician Shortages is Focus of McCaskill-backed Legislation
Senator backs plan to prevent growing physician shortages and increase residencies for Missouri-educated medical professionals
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is backing a plan that would address growing physician shortages and increase residencies in Missouri for medical professionals in training.
“We train some of the finest medical students in the country right here in Missouri, but with the current shortage of residencies in the state, we’re losing top-notch talent,” McCaskill said. “This commonsense, bipartisan plan would help keep the best and brightest doctors in Missouri to ensure folks all across the state have the access to quality care.”
The bipartisan Resident Physician Shortage Act would help prevent growing physician shortages in Missouri by increasing the number of residency slots so hospitals can train more physicians. Each year medical schools in Missouri admit about 1,000 medical school students, but the state only has 725 residency slots. The McCaskill-backed plan would increase funding for hospitals and new residency training programs to increase slots available across Missouri.
McCaskill has been a longtime advocate for improving access to quality healthcare across Missouri. She supported a bipartisan proposal to improve Missourians’ access to care by expanding telehealth services in Medicare, and at a Senate hearing, shared feedback she received from Missourians on the challenges facing rural communities due to a lack of doctors.
McCaskill is also backing a proposal that would increase the number of doctors in rural Missouri by requiring Medicare to reimburse medical residency training programs for medical residents. Hospitals and health centers find that providers who train in their hospitals are more likely to return and serve in that community. Additionally, in response to rural hospital closures across the country, McCaskill called for an investigation into the challenges these hospitals face, trends in rural hospital closures, and recommendations for the federal government about addressing these issues.
Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/
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