S1302-118

What This Bill Does:
This bill addresses the physician shortage in America by authorizing the creation of 14,000 new Medicare-funded medical residency positions over seven years (2,000 per year from 2025-2031). It amends the Social Security Act to increase the number of slots hospitals can have for training resident physicians, and requires a study on how to increase diversity in the healthcare workforce.

Who Benefits and How:
- Teaching hospitals gain the ability to train more resident physicians, receiving Medicare payments for additional residency slots
- Rural and underserved hospitals receive priority in the distribution of new positions, with specific minimum allocations set aside
- Patients in underserved areas may benefit long-term from more physicians entering the workforce
- Medical school graduates benefit from more opportunities to complete required residency training

Who Bears the Burden and How:
- Medicare (federal government) bears the cost of funding additional graduate medical education payments to hospitals
- Taxpayers ultimately fund the expanded residency positions through Medicare spending
- The Comptroller General must conduct and report on a diversity study within 2 years

Key Provisions:
- Creates 14,000 new Medicare-funded residency positions distributed over fiscal years 2025-2031 (2,000 per year)
- Establishes 7 rounds of applications for hospitals to receive additional positions
- Sets minimum distributions for certain categories of hospitals (including rural and underserved)
- Amends indirect teaching adjustment factors for hospitals receiving new positions starting July 1, 2025
- Requires the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing diversity in the health professional workforce, focusing on rural, lower-income, and underrepresented minority communities