A new graduate medical education (GME) bill that would add more physician training positions as a way to address the state’s doctor shortage was proposed on Monday at a press conference at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck.

The Supporting Graduate Medical Education at Community Hospitals Act of 2019 would address current caps on GME training programs have been in place since 1997. Currently, hospitals seeking to launch GME training programs face barriers in establishing physician-training programs in community hospitals.

If passed, the legislation – co-sponsored by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, and U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-9th District, and Josh Gottheimer, D-5th District – would replace the outdated law that locked hospitals out of residency training slots or capped their training slots at a lower number.

For example, Holy Name is currently capped at six, if the bill passes, it could get upwards of 100 or more GME slots.

“In New Jersey, we are on the verge of a severe physician crisis and a severe challenge on how physicians are educated. The majority of the residents who train here, choose not to stay here, they leave. We need to get them to stay and part of that is having them exposed to new and different programs,” said Michael Maron, president and chief executive officer of Holy Name Medical Center.

“Our state should be a top destination for medical school graduates to launch their careers. We face steep competition from the Philadelphia and New York job markets we need more money for training programs to meet the demand for new residents. Outdated federals laws have made it even tougher for New Jersey hospitals to bring on more medical residents,” said Menendez.

“Holy Name is ready to take a medical residency program on and help fill this gap. But under current law if they re-start their residency program they’ll be subject to the same Medicare hiring caps imposed all the way back to 1996. These caps have failed to keep pace for the growing demand for a larger physician workforce,” Menendez continued.

“Our legislation will allow Holy Name to re-launch their residency program without the caps on Medicare-sponsored residents set in the mid-90s. We cannot let outdated Medicare caps from the 20th century keep us from recruiting, training and hiring the physicians of the 21st century,” said Menendez.

Dr. John Poole, a surgeon at Holy Name and outgoing president of the Medical Society of New Jersey, told NJBIZ that if the legislation is approved, it would bring rejuvenation to the medical staff.

“Statistics show that where you train is a big factor in where you decide to and open up practice where you settle down.”