On May 8, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved a bill detailing proposed FY 2020 funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Tucked into this bill, lawmakers included an important investment in children's health: $350 million for the Children's Hospitals Graduate Education (CHGME) program, an increase of $25 million over FY 2019.
CHGME provides 58 children's hospitals with critical funding to support the training of pediatric residents and fellows. These teaching hospitals train half of all pediatricians and pediatric specialists who will care for our nation's children. In many ways, CHGME is the most vital investment the nation makes to strengthen the pediatric workforce and access to care for children.
Today, the equivalent GME program for general acute care hospitals—where the training of most adults' doctors occurs—provides double the funding support per resident as CHGME. This committee markup is only the beginning of a long process to determine FY 2020 funding the U.S., but the committee's proposed increase for CHGME is an important initial step towards closing this gap between the country's investments in children and adults.
