Urge Senate Passage of CHGME

Dear Partners,

In order to ensure that children have access to the providers they need, the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Payment Program (CHGME) was created in 1999. CHGME allows independent children’s hospitals to receive federal support to train resident pediatricians and pediatric specialists similar to the GME support provided to adult hospitals.

The program has been a clear success over the years and has resulted in an increased number of pediatric residents and pediatric resident specialists across the country. For more information on the successful track record of CHGME and opportunities to make the program even more successful in the future, please see our paper on the issue by clicking here.

Federal authorization for CHGME expired on September 30, 2011. Therefore, it is critical that Congress act as soon as possible to reauthorize the program, as there remains a serious shortage of pediatric specialists in many geographic areas. Reauthorization legislation has already cleared the House of Representatives (H.R. 1852) by voice vote and now all that remains is for its companion bill (S. 958) to clear the Senate before being sent to President Obama.

Action Steps

Please take the following actions as soon as possible:

  • Call both of your senators and request that they reach out to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and urge that the Senate pass CHGME reauthorization as soon as possible. Click here to find the contact information for your senators.
  • Contact Senate leadership directly to urge them to ensure that the CHGME reauthorization bill moves forward quickly. Senate Majority Leader Reid can be reached at (202) 224-3542 and Senate Minority Leader McConnell can be reached at (202) 224-2541.

For talking points for use during these calls, please click here.

If you have any questions about CHGME, please contact Patrick M. Tigue at (617) 275-2931 or ptigue@communitycatalyst.org. Thank you for your attention to this important issue and thank you for all that you continue to do for the health of children in New England and across the nation.

Sincerely,

Nicole Tambouret
Program Manager

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