[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 123 (Monday, July 23, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6600-H6602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DR. BENJY FRANCES BROOKS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL GME SUPPORT
REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2018
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5385) to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize
the program of payments to children's hospitals that operate graduate
medical education programs, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5385
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Dr. Benjy Frances Brooks
Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of
2018''.
SEC. 2. PROGRAM OF PAYMENTS TO CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS THAT
OPERATE GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
Section 340E of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
256e) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``and each of fiscal
years 2014 through 2018,'' and inserting ``each of fiscal
years 2014 through 2018, and each of fiscal years 2019
through 2023,'';
(2) in subsection (b)(3)(D), by inserting ``and the end of
fiscal year 2022,'' after ``fiscal year 2018,''; and
(3) in subsection (f)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
(i) in clause (iv), by striking ``; and'' and inserting a
semicolon;
(ii) in clause (v), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(vi) for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023,
$105,000,000.''; and
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(F) for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023,
$220,000,000.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Burgess) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).
General Leave
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
[[Page H6601]]
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and insert extraneous material in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, today we are considering H.R. 5385, the Dr. Benjy
Frances Brooks Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education Support
Reauthorization Act of 2018. This bill, which was submitted by
Representative Gene Green and myself, reauthorizes the Children's
Hospital Graduate Medical Education programs at $325 million per year
for the fiscal years 2019 through 2023. This is an increase of $10
million above the enacted fiscal year 2018 level. This bill recently
moved through regular order in the Energy and Commerce Committee and
its Subcommittee on Health.
Congress created the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education
program in 1999 as part of the Healthcare Research and Quality Act,
which authorized funding to directly support medical residency training
at children's hospitals for 2 years.
Prior to the establishment of Children's Hospital Graduate Medical
Education, children's hospitals received minimal graduate medical
education funding because Medicare is the primary funding source of
graduate medical education programs, and children's hospitals have few
Medicare patients.
Since the establishment of this program, Children's Hospital Graduate
Medical Education funding has provided critical support to our
pediatric workforce, which still is struggling to keep up with the
demands for their services. The Children's Hospital Graduate Medical
Education program is especially crucial in training pediatric
subspecialists.
Children's hospitals have a unique patient population with medical
conditions from which pediatric medical residents can learn and develop
critical skills. The experience gained from such a residency helps to
prepare and train physicians for the complex reality of pediatric
medicine that they will face in the future of their medical careers.
I can say as an OB/GYN who did his residency at Parkland Hospital in
Dallas, residency programs play a vital role in shaping our Nation's
physician workforce. Our pediatric workforce is no exception.
According to the Children's Hospital Association, almost half of
children's hospitals reported vacancies for child and adolescent
psychiatry, in addition to developmental pediatrics. The Children's
Hospital Association also reports that pediatric specialists in
emergency medicine, physical medicine, rehabilitation, endocrinology,
rheumatology, hospitalists, pain management/palliative care, and
adolescent medicine are frequently reported as experiencing vacancies
longer than 12 months.
The workforce shortage is something that I am concerned about, and
that is why passing this legislation is an integral part of maintaining
and sustaining our workforce.
In 2016, Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education funding
helped to support over 7,000 residents at 58 hospitals across the
country.
Mr. Green and I agreed to name this bill after Dr. Benjy Frances
Brooks, who was born and raised in my district in north Texas, in
Lewisville, Texas. Dr. Brooks went on to become the first female
pediatric surgeon in the State and to establish pediatric surgery as a
separate division at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
It is an honor to move this bill in Dr. Brooks' name.
Our children deserve the best care available to them, and ensuring
that we have an adequately prepared workforce is the first step in
providing quality healthcare to children. Passing H.R. 5385 is vital to
the maintenance and growth of this workforce and to the health of our
Nation's children.
I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5385, the Dr. Benjy
Frances Brooks Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of
2018.
I am proud to introduce this legislation that will reauthorize the
Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education program with our
subcommittee chairman, Congressman Michael Burgess. The CHGME program
was created by Congress in 1999 to provide payments to children's
hospitals to support medical residency training programs.
The Children's Hospital GME program is necessary due to how hospitals
typically receive support for GME through Medicare, and these payments
are based on hospitals' Medicare patient volume. Because the Medicare
program is used primarily by people who are over the age of 65 and
children's hospitals treat, primarily, people below the age of 18,
children's hospitals have low Medicare patient volume and receive few
Medicare GME payments.
Children's Hospital GME funds go toward training our Nation's
pediatric workforce, including pediatricians and pediatric
subspecialists, as well as other physician types in nonpediatrics,
focused specialists that may rotate through children's hospitals for a
period of time during their residency.
Since its creation, the Children's Hospital GME program has made it
possible for thousands of pediatricians to receive training, including
at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, home of one of the largest
academic pediatric departments in the United States, which has a number
of clinics in our Houston area district.
Physicians receiving training in one of the 58 freestanding
children's hospitals in 29 States go on to serve in the rural and other
underserved areas, helping to alleviate the pediatric workforce
shortage impacting communities throughout America.
The CHGME program is needed now more than ever to help train the
pediatric workforce that will be required to meet the needs of our
children and our grandchildren. Our legislation will reauthorize the
CHGME program for 5 years at $325 million, and a $25 million increase
over current levels. The current authorization will expire at the end
of September, so it is imperative that we reauthorize this important
program.
Our bipartisan legislation has 57 cosponsors, nearly equally divided
between Democrats and Republicans. In addition, this legislation has
strong support from outside stakeholders, the American Hospital
Association, and the Children's Hospital Association.
I thank Dr. Burgess and all our colleagues on the Energy and Commerce
Committee for their hard work and support for this important
legislation, and I ask for all Members to join us in support of the Dr.
Benjy Frances Brooks Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization
Act of 2018.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to
the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), chairman of the full committee.
Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues Mr. Gene Green
and, certainly, Dr. Burgess for their great leadership on this issue.
I rise is support of H.R. 5385, the Dr. Benjy Frances Brooks
Children's HOSPITAL GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2018, and I want
to thank them for their good work on this.
As you have heard, this reauthorizes payments to children's hospitals
that operate graduate medical education programs, and it does so for
the next 5 years, giving these programs great certainty going forward.
This legislation will continue to enable the Nation's freestanding
children's hospitals to provide education to graduates of medical
schools, enhance pediatric research capabilities, and care for these
vulnerable and underserved children.
{time} 1500
Representative Green and Chairman Burgess partnered to lead this
bipartisan bill in our committee, and they brought about unanimous
votes in both the Health Subcommittee and in our full committee. I
appreciate their work on this and thank them and their staffs for the
great work they all have done as we work together to reauthorize these
very, very important programs.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support us in this legislation
from the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers,
[[Page H6602]]
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I only want to point out that 2018 is the 100-year anniversary of the
birth of Dr. Benjy Brooks, so it seemed an appropriate time to
recognize her contributions to the fields of pediatric surgery and
medicine in general.
Again, she was born in the town in which I practiced medicine for a
number of years. I first encountered her at the University of Texas
Medical School at Houston when I was a medical student back there in
the 1970s. Surely, hers is a legacy of which all Texans can be proud.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 5385, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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