U.S. Sen. John Boozman, other state and local dignitaries, community leaders and health care experts today addressed the shortage of physician residency positions in Arkansas and how a bill being proposed by Boozman (“The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act”) can help.

Medical school graduates are required to complete residency training to practice medicine. However, a 1997 cap on Medicare support for Graduate Medical Education (GME) has stymied increases in residency training, creating a blockage in the physician workforce pipeline.

The GME Summit was held to enable policy makers and health care, education, community and business stakeholders to start a statewide dialogue focused on solutions to the growing residency shortage in Arkansas.       MORE