PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

On Physician Shortages and Access to Care

SSVMS and CMA continue to advocate for physicians, patients, and quality healthcare at the local, state and federal levels. Here’s a quick look at what’s happening in Washington: 

SSVMS and CMA are thrilled to announce a major victory in expanding the Federal Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Program for California physicians who were previously blocked from participating in the program. As of July 1, physicians who work 30 hours/week for 10 years in nonprofit hospitals, foundations, clinics, or other health care entities may be eligible. This means that many of the physicians working in the major medical groups in California are now eligible to apply! Not only is this significant for many of us practicing here already, but it will entice other physicians to work in California as well. CMA has published a guide to help physicians navigate the program cmadocs.org/pslf. 

SSVMS and CMA continue to work hard on Medicare reform. These efforts include pushing the bipartisan HR 2474 which would provide annual inflation updates to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) – a reasonable market basket of physician practice costs. Medicare physician payment fell 26% from 2001-2023 because physicians do not have an annual inflation update like all other Medicare providers. This legislation would stabilize physician practices and protect access to care for patients. 

Further, SSVMS and CMA are focusing on increasing the physician workforce pipeline by supporting bipartisan legislation that would provide 14,000 new Medicare-supported Graduate Medical Education (GME) physician residency training positions over 7 years. GME positions have been capped since 1997 yet medical school enrollment has increased. This bill would allow thousands of medical students to finish their training and open the physician pipeline to address the serious physician shortages. 

SSVMS leadership will be meeting with Members of Congress during the August recess. Interested in supporting these efforts? Contact Michele at monatanian@ssvms.org.

J. Bianca Roberts, MD

SSVMS President

SSV MEDICINE MAGAZINE

FEATURED ARTICLE

This Is Not Why We Practice Medicine

By J. Bianca Roberts, MD