Members Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Ensure Equal Access to Federally-Funded Residency Programs for DOs and MDs and Increase Access to Quality Healthcare in Rural and Underserved Areas
WASHINGTON – U.S. Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Sam Graves (R-MO), and Jared Golden (D-ME), re-introduced the bipartisan Fair Access in Residency (FAIR) Act (H.R. 751), to ensure taxpayer-funded physician residency training programs create an equal path to residency for both Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) and Medical Doctors (MDs). This legislation aims to address disparities and barriers in Medicare-funded Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs that often exclude or impose burdensome requirements for DOs.
“I am proud to lead legislation that has the ability to transform accessibility to DOs across the country and strengthen our physician pipeline, especially in rural and underserved areas. It’s critical that Congress ensures our taxpayer-funded residency training programs are fairly and equitably deploying all the best talent of tomorrow’s doctors and specialists, from both DO and MD educational backgrounds,” said Harshbarger. “This bill is a step toward ensuring transparency and equality in our taxpayer-funded GME programs, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of physicians trained and serving our communities.”
“As one of the fastest growing health professions in the country, Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine provide essential care in our communities, particularly in rural and underserved areas. It’s ridiculous that osteopathic medical students are facing discrimination and extra hurdles to accessing federally funded residency programs. The FAIR Act will help to ensure more accountability from these programs,” said Pingree. “I’m proud that so many dedicated DOs are being trained in Maine and across the country. We should be helping them serve patients without unnecessary barriers, which is exactly what this legislation aims to do.”
“Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine are critical for meeting our nation’s physician shortage—particularly in rural areas. Not only is North Missouri the birthplace of osteopathic medicine, but we also depend on many DOs to provide much needed care. We need to ensure that the best and brightest medical school graduates are able to get into a residency program—regardless of whether they attend osteopathic or allopathic medical school,” said Graves. “Osteopathic medicine students deserve a fair shot at taxpayer-funded residency programs and this legislation ensures that happens.”
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine:
“As our nation faces a physician shortage, with rural and underserved areas already in crisis, it is imperative that all medical students have an equitable path to residency training. We thank Reps. Harshbarger, Pingree, Graves and Golden for their leadership in addressing osteopathic medical students’ unfair barriers in applying to federally funded residency training. We also appreciate the 50 national and state organizations who’ve joined us in supporting this vital bill. Correcting the persistent and prevalent inequities faced by DO students, many of whom will go on to practice in rural and medically underserved communities, is crucial to improving healthcare access” (Robert Cain, DO, President and CEO).
National Rural Health Association
“The National Rural Health Association applauds Reps. Diana Harshbarger, Chellie Pingree, Sam Graves and Jared Golden for re-introduction of the Fair Access in Residency (FAIR) Act. This important legislation will help to ease rural physician shortages through removing overly restrictive residency criteria and result in greater engagement of osteopathic medical students from rural areas” (Alan Morgan, NRHA CEO).
Tennessee Osteopathic Medical Association:
"The Tennessee Osteopathic Medical Association applauds Rep. Harshbarger for leading bipartisan legislation to help ensure osteopathic graduates have an equitable path to access federally-funded residency programs. Osteopathic physicians, like those who graduate from the Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, play a critical role in our nation’s healthcare delivery system, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The FAIR Act is an important step forward to removing the unnecessary barriers DOs face and increasing access to healthcare in communities in Tennessee and across the county" (Betsy Hilt, CAE, Executive Director).
Maine Osteopathic Association:
The Maine Osteopathic Association supports the Fair Access in Residency (FAIR) Act, which we believe is a step in the right direction to providing fair and equal access to training opportunities for graduates of osteopathic medical schools -- like the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNE COM) in Biddeford. We believe this legislation helps to ensure that our medical students are able to get access to the postgraduate training programs they want and need to become the best Doctors they can to care for Mainers by removing unnecessary and unfair residency criteria. On behalf of the Maine Osteopathic Association, I want to thank Rep. Pingree and Rep. Golden for taking a step to support Maine's future osteopathic doctors! (Amanda Richards, Executive Director)
Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons:
The Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons,which includes nearly 2,500 osteopathic medical student members from our state’s three osteopathic college campuses, is extremely grateful to Representative Graves for his sponsorship of the FAIR Act. The bill helps ensure fair consideration of osteopathic medical students in Missouri and nationwide for graduate medical education programs funded by Medicare. Representative Graves has been a strong advocate for rural healthcare and medical education. We commend him for his efforts and leadership" (Brian Bowles, Executive Director).
The FAIR Act requires federally funded GME programs to:
- Report annually the number of applicants for residency from osteopathic (DO) and allopathic (MD) medical schools and how many such applicants that were accepted from each respective type of school; and
- Affirm annually that they accept applicants from both osteopathic and allopathic medical schools, and that if an examination score is required for acceptance, both the COMLEX-USA (DO) and USMLE (MD) licensing exams will be accepted.
Background:
Physicians must complete GME training in a particular specialty — such as family medicine or anesthesiology — after four years of medical school before they can practice medicine independently. During their training, residents work under supervision of other physicians to gain experience caring for patients. Residents often train in their chosen specialty for at least 3 years, but some residents choose specialties with a longer residency training period.
The Federal government is the largest source of federal financial support for the U.S. healthcare workforce, and contributes more than $16 billion per year to GME medical residency training programs, the bulk of which is Medicare-funded GME for physicians.
The FAIR Act would address the problem of GME programs often excluding or imposing burdensome requirements for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs). According to National Resident Matching Program data, 32 percent of residency program directors never or seldom interview DO candidates, and of those who do, at least 56 percent require the MD licensing exam, the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). DO students take the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) for graduation and licensure. Both the COMLEX-USA and USMLE confer unrestricted physician licenses. DO students should not be subjected to exclusion or the emotional and financial strain of a second exam, which exceeds physician licensure requirements.
Osteopathic medicine is one of the fastest growing health professions in the United States and colleges of osteopathic medicine are now educating 25 percent of all medical students. DOs are meeting our nation’s health care needs, prioritizing primary care specialties, and practicing in rural and underserved areas at notably high rates. Physician distribution is influenced by training location, and more than 73 percent of DOs practice in the state where they do their residency training. Unnecessary and unfair residency criteria negatively impact physician distribution leading to disparities in health care access.
East Tennessee is home to Lincoln Memorial University - DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (Harrogate; Knoxville), an osteopathic medical school in Tennessee.
A list of additional organizations in support of the FAIR Act can be found HERE.
Bill text can be found HERE.