Copyright 2000 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
October 6, 2000, Friday, SOONER EDITION
SECTION: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE, Pg. A-3
LENGTH: 396 words
HEADLINE:
FUNDS RELEASED FOR TRAINING OF PEDIATRIC RESIDENTS
BYLINE: VIRGINIA LINN, POST-GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
BODY:
Hospitals for adults receive roughly
$ 82,000 in federal money for each resident doctor they train, funded primarily
through the Medicare program.
Independent children's hospitals receive
only $ 374 per resident.
This isn't one of those fuzzy math problems.
It's reality. But the federal government took a significant step yesterday to
bridge this funding gap by announcing the allocation of $ 40 million to 56
independent children's hospitals across the country -- including nearly $ 1.2
million for Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
And Children's officials
hope additional money will be authorized next fiscal year that will cover the
entire $ 10 million cost of its program that trains 140 pediatric doctors a
year.
"It is quite significant," said Ronald Violi, chief executive
officer of Children's. "It's a long, long time in coming. We finally will get
some help to educate the young physicians of tomorrow."
Dr. Claude Earl
Fox, administrator for the Health Resources and Services Administration, said $
7 billion is spent annually for medical training through Medicare funds, the
program that subsidizes health care for older Americans. Independent children
hospitals get very little of this money.
"Children's hospitals have been
left out of the graduate medical education program," Fox said.
That was corrected in 1999 when Congress created this special program by
passing the Healthcare Research and Quality Act. President Clinton signed the
act on Dec. 6.
In addition to the $ 40 million just allocated, Violi
said another $ 285 million has been authorized for next fiscal year, which if
funded, could cover the cost of the entire resident program at Children's.
Violi and hospital officials have been working closely with the Western
Pennsylvania legislative delegation to garner support for these programs.
The funding will be used to preserve the resident doctor program that
has shrunk from $ 14 million just a few years ago, when it trained 170 residents
annually, Violi said.
Children's has funded the program from its general
operations, already overburdened from providing $ 15 million a year in free care
to poor and uninsured children.
Violi hopes the future funding will
allow Children's to eventually expand its resident training program.
"Although this is a small beginning, it is an important step," he said.
LOAD-DATE: October 6, 2000 
