MMS Testifies Before U.S. Congress

Dr. Bruce Auerbach, president of the statewide association of physicians and vice president and chief of Emergency and Ambulatory Services at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Mass., made the remarks as the Commonwealth and the nation attempt to find ways to address workforce shortages in health care, particularly primary care physicians.

Auerbach told the committee that “the task before those concerned about workforce issues is to educate policy makers about how changes in the physician workforce will affect cost, access, and quality, and impress upon them that serious efforts to promote quality of care and reduce costs will not be effective unless qualified physicians are there to provide care.” Among Auerbach’s recommendations were:

• Reauthorization of Title VII (Health Professions Education Assistance Act) programs with increases commensurate with the projected needs.
• Creation of a national database that will improve the methodology to record the number of practicing physicians in each state and location of their practices. Current databases, said Auerbach, do not accurately reflect those physicians who actively practice medicine on a full-time basis, the true number of hours devoted to patient care, or where they practice;
• Development of new, additional approaches to defining physician shortage areas and development of additional funding programs by Congress to help those areas that are experiencing significant shortages;
• Funding of a demonstration project for a new type of grant program to forgive federally funded medical student loans. Eligible physicians who commit to practicing primary care in the demonstration grant states would have a portion of their federal loan forgiven;
• The need to address comprehensive payment reform for all physicians and health care providers. “At a minimum,” said Auerbach, “reform for primary care physicians should focus on increased value for cognitive and preventive services, comprehensive longitudinal management of patients, and proposals to incent quality and the medical home.”