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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