Our Take: New Jersey is home to 43 teaching hospitals that provide essential services to the residents of New Jersey: training the next generation of physicians and other clinicians; advancing medical care through research and clinical trials; and providing free and discounted care to those in need as part of the healthcare safety net. NJHA advocates for adequate funding and graduate medical education policy that allows teaching hospitals to carry on this important mission of caring and service.

NJHA’s advocacy priorities on behalf of teaching hospitals are:

1. Support HR 2267/S 1301 in Congress, “The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2017,” to increase Medicare-supported graduate medical education positions by 15,000 over the next five years. Those positions are needed to ensure an adequate number of physicians for the future.
2. Preserve Medicare support for residency training positions given the uncertainty of New Jersey’s physician workforce.
3. Preserve the 340B Drug Discount Program to increase access to affordable drugs for New Jersey’s safety net hospitals and their patients.

Additional Resources

• Issue Brief: Physician Workforce: A Strategy for New Jersey
  
  
• Teaching Hospital Federal Priorities 2017