Aligning Expansion of Graduate Medical Education with Recent Recommendations for Reform.

Federal funds totaling $16 billion support 120000 graduate medical education (GME) positions (1). However, too few physicians are trained to practice high-quality primary care that can improve outcomes and decrease costs (2). Consistent with recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) recent review of the governance and financing of GME (3), we propose using existing funds to expand primary care positions that target urban and rural areas with shortages of health professionals. We also propose using recently approved Veterans Affairs (VA) funding to expand primary care and mental health residency positions that target VA clinical sites that need more health professionals.