Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2014 - (Page 38)
associationnews
policy update
Congress reauthorizes CHGME
Children's hospitals celebrate the victory of funding through 2018, but challenges remain.
O
n April 7, President Obama signed
the Children's Hospital GME Support
Reauthorization Act of 2013 into law. The
bill reauthorizes the Children's Hospital
Graduate Medical Education (CHGME)
program at up to $300 million annually
through FY 2018. It also creates a pool of
funding for a defined class of hospitals
that train pediatric providers but are not
currently qualified to receive CHGME.
Getting this law enacted was a multi-year
Reauthorizing CHGME was an important
victory. But the work to make sure it
remains a strong program must continue.
The authorization of CHGME essentially
allows Congress to spend money on a
program for a fixed number of years. It does
not guarantee funding. Each year Congress
must use the appropriations process to
fund various programs, including CHGME.
This means every year, children's hospitals
and the Association encourage Congress to
Champions on the Hill
RoBERt P. CasEy jR.
(D-PA)
johnny isakson
(R-GA)
REP. fRank PallonE jR.
(D-NJ)
effort and involved a commitment of time
and resources by children's hospitals and
the Children's Hospital Association to work
with Congress to advance this legislation.
Reps. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) and Frank Pallone
Jr. (D-NJ), and Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr.
(D-PA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA)-the
bill's champions-also worked tirelessly to
ensure the program's reauthorization. This
important recognition of children's health
care needs would not be possible without
their leadership and commitment.
REP. josEPh Pitts
(R-PA)
appropriate funding for CHGME to ensure
that children's teaching hospitals continue
to receive the funds they need to train
the next generations of pediatricians and
pediatric specialists.
For the first 10 years of the program,
funding increased every year. However, due
to federal budget constraints, funding has
decreased from $317.5 million in FY 2010 to
$265 million in FY 2014. A recent analysis
the Association commissioned demonstrates
this decrease has negatively impacted
Bipartisan legislation announced
On June 20, House lawmakers, led by Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Kathy Castor (D-FL),
introduced the Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act of 2014 (H.R. 4930). Additional
original cosponsors include Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Gene Green (D-TX) and Jaime
Herrera Beutler (R-WA). ACE Kids Act of 2014 is designed to improve care for the 2
million children with medical complexity in Medicaid, and it can reduce health care system
costs by streamlining care coordination through nationally designated children's hospital
networks that cross state lines. Currently, Medicaid's state-by-state variability creates
challenges for effective care coordination, quality measures and cost containment. You
can be part of advancing care for children; visit speaknowforkids.com and "act now" to
encourage Congress to support ACE Kids.
38
children's hospital s today Summer 2014
the program's initial goal of providing
freestanding children's teaching hospitals
with the same federal graduate medical
education (GME) funding that other teaching
hospitals receive through Medicare.
In 2014, Congress set CHGME funding
for children's hospitals at $265 million.
According to the new analysis, at that
funding level, the average CHGME payment
per full-time equivalent (FTE) resident
comes to $58,147. On a per-resident basis,
this represents only 45 percent of what
Medicare provides to support training
in general acute care teaching hospitals.
Over the coming years, if CHGME funding
remains at 2014 levels, per-resident
payments for CHGME recipients will decline
to 37 percent of Medicare support by 2018.
Cuts to CHGME in future years would mean
even larger declines. The biggest reason for
the decline in recent years is the significant
one-time reduction in CHGME that occurred
in 2011, but continuing small increases to
Medicare GME payments over time (while
CHGME funding stays relatively static)
mean the gap continues to slowly grow.
Funding CHGME up to its authorization
of $300 million annually would increase
CHGME support to approximately $66,330
per FTE resident per year, or 52 percent of
the level of support provided by Medicare.
Fully funding the program would be an
important step to help strengthen the
pediatric workforce. Therefore, children's
hospitals and the Association are urging
Congress to provide $300 million in FY 2015
funding for CHGME.
CHGME has been a successful program
providing funding to freestanding children's
teaching hospitals that ensures children
throughout the country have access to the
high-quality care they need and deserve.
Reauthorization was an important step, but
the report demonstrates more can and should
be done to ensure there is strong federal
support to train pediatricians and pediatric
specialists. -John Knapp and Liz Parry
childrenshospital s.org
http://www.speaknowforkids.com
http://www.childrenshospitals.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2014
Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2014
Contents
Editor's note
Chairman's message
First person
Reader commentary
Transforming care
Everyday hero
Noteworthy
How to save 18%
Landing among the stars
Hands-on play time
Pass it on
Speaking up
Public policy update
Board member Q&A
Child's story
Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2014
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