Copyright 1999 Boston Herald Inc.
The Boston Herald
February 16, 1999 Tuesday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 025
LENGTH: 326 words
HEADLINE:
Pols push funding for teaching hospitals
BYLINE: By
ERIC CONVEY and GREG GATLIN
BODY:
A majority of
U.S. senators is working to protect a system that gives extra money to teaching
hospitals to finance doctor-training - including more than $ 300 million that
winds up in Massachusetts each year.
The lawmakers hope to influence a
bi-partisan commission that's considering changes to the system, which provides
about $ 100,000 a year to teaching hospitals for each doctor trained. The money
comes through Medicare, the federal health insurance system for Social Security
recipients.
"Medicare payments to teaching hospitals are vital to their
survival," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter signed by 54 other
senators.
It's addressed to Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), chairman of the
Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.
The panel is
considering moving three programs out of Medicare and into the overall
appropriations process that provides money for everything from highways to the
military.
The shift would relieve Medicare of a financial burden, but
leave the money more vulnerable to political manipulation.
The programs
provide:
Disproportionate share payments, which go to hospitals that
serve many poor people.
Indirect Medical Education money that goes to
teaching hospitals that serve a high percentage of elderly patients.
Direct Graduate Medical Education grants, which cover
some of the salaries of interns and residents. The more Medicare patients a
hospital treats, the more money the government contributes toward its intern and
resident expenses.
For all three programs, the total budgeted nationally
for the current federal fiscal year is $ 10.6 billion - $ 200 million less than
in fiscal 1998 and $ 600 million less then in fiscal 1997.
Ronald
Hollander, president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, said: "Maybe
this letter will start to turn the tide away from budget-driven health policy
and renew our national commitment to training the next generation of
care-givers."
LOAD-DATE: February 17, 1999
