Charles P. Clayton
Despite the importance of increasing the health care workforce to meet the needs of Americans newly insured under health care reform, the major topics of discussion at the bipartisan health care summit called by President Barack H. Obama for Thursday, February 25, 2010, will likely be political issues including the role of government in the health care marketplace and sources of revenue to pay for expanding access to care. However, the administration’s more complete health care plan does include a number of workforce provisions, including an expansion of grant programs to fund the training of primary care providers and an expansion of the National Health Service Corps.
The fifth section of the proposal includes the following additional provisions:
- “[The Act] also provides payment bonuses to primary care physicians.”
- “The Act also supports scholarships and loan repayments for disadvantaged students who commit to work in medically underserved areas and who serve as faculty in participating institutions.”
- “The Act addresses critical public health workforce shortages by supporting the training of the public health workforce and physicians specializing in preventive medicine.”
- “The Act creates a competitive program that awards grants to States to develop effective and comprehensive health care workforce development strategies at the State and local levels. “
- “The Act increases the pipeline of health professionals by supporting the development and implementation of health sciences programs in public secondary schools so that students can prepare for careers in health professions.”
- “[The Act] increases funding for geriatric education and training.”
- “The Act provides $11 billion in funding for the operation, expansion, and construction of community health centers throughout the Nation.”
With respect to physician-patient relationships, the administration makes the following recommendations:
- “To give patients greater choices, doctors with financial interests in imaging services, like MRI services, must inform the patients in writing that they can obtain the recommended imaging service from a person other than the referring physician, and provide a contact list.”
- “To prevent conflicts of interests and insure full transparency and information for patients, the Act requires all drug companies, device, and medical supply manufacturers to fully disclose and report any gifts they make or financial arrangements they have with doctors, a physician practice or group.”
The proposal language also vaguely mentions support for expanding comparative-effectiveness research while pledging, “No findings from this research may be interpreted as a mandate for medical practice guidelines or coverage decisions.”
The summit may represent the beginning of a next stage in true health care reform efforts or the death knell for this initiative. More information on future directions will be available in AAIM Connection.