The House Ways & Means Committee’s Health Subcommittee held a Feb. 24 hearing titled “Advancing the Next Generation of America’s Health Care Workforce” to examine innovative ways to train our nation’s health care workforce. The hearing focused on serving rural and underserved communities and leveraging technology to encourage healthier living.
Subcommittee Republicans emphasized rural physician shortages as a structural workforce crisis driven by outdated Graduate Medical Education (GME) caps, geographic misallocation of residency slots, administrative burden, and demographic shifts. They focused on expanding and redistributing Medicare-funded residency positions, codifying and strengthening initiatives like the Rural Residency Planning and Development program, increasing accountability for GME spending, and modernizing training pathways to better align with population growth and rural needs.
Subcommittee Democrats similarly underscored the severity of physician shortages, particularly in rural and underserved areas, but emphasized the role of Medicaid stability, student loan affordability, immigration pathways for international physicians, and sustained federal investment in community-based training. They warned that Medicaid cuts, loan caps, and visa fee increases would worsen access and hospital viability, and stressed that funding streams such as Teaching Health Centers and expanded GME slots are essential to long-term workforce stability.
Committee Activity This Week
The House is in session Tuesday through Friday, and the Senate will be in session Monday through Friday.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a full committee hearing on “Transforming Health Care with Data: Improving Patient Outcomes Through Next-Generation Care” on Thursday, March 5th at 10:00 AM ET.
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