With the country facing a physician shortage and the number of medical residencies capped by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act (because Medicare and Medicaid provide the primary funding for the residencies), teaching hospitals need an additional 4000 residency slots a year.

This was the message conveyed recently to a gathering of congressional aides co-sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

This issue is of great interest to the nation’s private safety-net hospitals, many of which are teaching hospitals.

Such an increase would cost $10 billion over the next ten years.

Learn more about the case for more residency slots in this Kaiser Health News article.