Pallone Urges HRSA to Increase Funding for Training Future Doctors & Dentists at Teaching Health Centers

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) wrote to Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Carole Johnson today urging the agency to increase funding for training the next generation of physicians and dentists in underserved communities. In the letter, Pallone requests the per resident allocation (PRA) for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program be increased by $10,000 before the next academic year begins on July 1, 2024. 

“When the THCGME program was established over a decade ago, the PRA was determined to be $150,000. Since then, the PRA has only been increased once, by $10,000, when it was mandated in 2021 by the American Rescue Plan Act,” Pallone wrote to Administrator Johnson. “While this increase is certainly helpful, a study commissioned by HRSA in 2022 found that the current PRA of $160,000 is $50,000 less than the national median for true training costs. This leaves Teaching Health Centers, which are predominantly federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics, responsible for covering the outstanding costs associated with training residents. I am concerned that the discrepancy between the PRA and the true costs of training a resident has the potential to threaten the viability of the THCGME program.”  

The THCGME program has an impressive record addressing gaps in access to high-quality primary, mental, and dental health care by supporting the development of the next generation of physicians and dentists in underserved communities. It is the only federal program that trains physicians in a community setting rather than a hospital setting. Over the last 14 years, the THCGME program has produced over 2,000 primary care physicians and dentists. However, funding shortfalls threaten to undermine the continued success of the program by increasingly shifting training costs onto Teaching Health Centers.  

“In order to reassure existing and prospective Teaching Health Centers, I urge HRSA to raise the PRA by $10,000 before the new academic year begins on July 1, 2024,” Pallone continued. “I believe the funding levels provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, as well as the authority granted to use additional unobligated funds from previous years, should allow HRSA to take this action while also permitting continued growth of the THCGME program. This would allow existing programs to recruit residents with greater confidence that they will have adequate funding for the length of their residencies and encourage grantees that new centers can be sustained.”

Pallone has long championed the THCGME program. He authored the Doctors of Community (DOC) Act, which would permanently reauthorize the program with significant increases in funding and has advocated for a seven-year reauthorization of the program, which the House passed as part of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act last year.  

Read the full letter HERE. 

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