Texas has a shortage of healthcare providers including physicians and nurses and is projected to have an ongoing shortage in the future. To increase the number of providers, Texas needs to both train more providers and support and retain our current healthcare providers.
Teaching Hospitals of Texas members have stepped up and historically funded training programs and partnerships in their communities and at their facilities and partnered with medical, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and other schools to grow new providers. At the same time, our members are innovating and focusing on how to support our current healthcare providers so they will stay in the field and continue to provide care.
Graduate Medical Education (GME)
While Medicare funds some of the costs of GME, it uses an outdated formula that funds only a share of costs for residencies that existed over 25 years ago (1996), leaving over half of THOT member hospitals’ historic GME positions unfunded.
Texas funds public medical schools and faculty but does not provide similar dedicated funding for GME programs. Hospitals provide the primary site for GME clinical training – but receive limited funding through a variety of different programs. The Legislature took a big step supported by THOT to help fund some residencies by creating a series of grant programs to support new GME positions and programs (residencies) and increasing grant funding over time.