Copyright 2000 Boston Herald Inc.
The Boston Herald
October 6, 2000 Friday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: FINANCE; Pg. 032
LENGTH: 241 words
HEADLINE:
Hospital teaching gets$ 3.2M
BYLINE: By JENNIFER HELDT
POWELL
BODY:
Supporters of Children's Hospital had
a bonus to celebrate as they gathered for their annual dinner last night - a $
3.2 million check from the federal government to help pay for doctor training.
But the grant doesn't come close to covering the amount the hospital
spends on graduate medical education, and officials are hoping
more will come next year. "This is critical to our future," said Dr. Phil Pizzo,
Children's physician in chief. "Without support coming in, we'd have to begin
reducing our programs, and that would have a terrible impact, not only on
Children's but also on the future of pediatrics."
Other teaching
hospitals get reimbursement through medicare for the training they provide. But
since Children's serves almost no Medicare recipients, the hospital says, it
loses out on $ 20 million to $ 30million of federal funding on teaching every
year.
Congress last year approved a bill authorizing $ 285million for
all of the nation's children's hospitals, but appropriated only about $
40million.
As Congress nears the end of this session, U.S. Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and others are working to get the authorization fully
funded. If it is, Children's Hospital would get $ 21 million.
That money
could prove crucial to the hospital, which recorded a $ 61 million loss in 1999
and lost about $ 37million for the fiscal year that just ended. The hospital
hopes to keep this year's loss under $ 30 million.
LOAD-DATE: October 06, 2000 
