Children's Health-Graduate Medical Education (GME) Meeting 1/28/99 [2]
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OCR Page 1 of 8301/29/99 FRI 09:56 FAX 860 545 8495
PUBLIC RELATIONS
news release
Connecticut
Children's
Public Relations Office
Connecticut Children's Medical Center
MEDICAL CENTER
282 Washington Street Hartford, CT 061063316
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 1999
CONTACT: Tom Hanley, Public Relations 860.545.9954 or pager, 860.948.3553
"A FIRST STEP" FOR FUNDING CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL TEACHING PROGRAMS
HARTFORD --Larry Gold, President and CEO of Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said
he applauds the Clinton Administration's new initiative to help indepcndent children's hospitals
receive federal funding for the cost of training pediatricians.
"While it is unclear at the moment what children's teaching hospitals will actually receive
in terms of funding, we are hopeful that at the end of the Congressional session, children's
hospitals will be fairly compensated for the true cost of training pediatric physicians. The fact
that the Administration has included some funding in the budget is an important first step," Gold
said.
"The fact is that while children's hospitals train 30 percent of the nation's pediatricians
and 50 percent of the pediatric specialists, under the present structure for graduate medical
education we receive little or no federal funding," Gold said. He explained that adult teaching
hospitals receive federal funding for the cost of training physicians through Medicare
reimbursement, but children's hospitals have been excluded because Medicare is primarily an
insurance program for adults.
"It has-been-an-unintended but serious oversight in the system for years, and represents a
huge funding inequity which effects children's teaching hospitals," Gold said. "In order to
operate pediatric training programs, independent children's hospitals have been absorbing the
cost out of the bottom line, while adult hospitals get reimbursed from the federal government to
train their doctors."
The Clinton Administration's support for pediatric physician training in the budget
proposal (amounting to $40 million nationally) was announced by First Lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton at a White House meeting Thursday attended by Gold and other children's hospital
CEOs. Gold said he was "gratified to see that the Administration agrees that federal support for
teaching programs at children's hospitals is critical to our ability to educate the pediatric
providers of the future."
Connecticut has been at the forefront of efforts by children's teaching hospitals to bring
about change in federal policy to support pediatric physician training in the new Clinton budget.
In fact, Connecticut was the first state to have its entire Congressional delegation sign on to
support the proposed legislation last year.
"Clearly Connecticut has had strong bi-partisan support on this issue" said Gold. "We
are extremely grateful to Representative Nancy Johnson, who was an original co-sponsor of the
'Children's Hospital Education and Research Act' last year. She will reintroduce the legislation
this session. Governor John Rowland demonstrated his support of this issue by writing to
Republican congressional leadcrship, the President, and his gubernatorial peers to gain their
commitment. US Senator Christopher Dodd was an original Senate sponsor. He also arranged
meetings for children's hospital representatives with key officials from the Clinton
administration."
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