[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.

                          ____________________