[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20039]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      SUPPORTING THE PRIMARY CARE WORKFORCE ACCESS IMPROVEMENT ACT

  (Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. I rise today to urge support for the Primary 
Care Workforce Access Improvement Act.
  This bipartisan bill, which I've introduced with my colleague Mr. 
Thompson from California, will ensure that some of the most rural parts 
of our country will have greater access to doctors and that the high 
quality of health care that we value as Americans will continue. Right 
now, some areas of Washington State don't have enough doctors because 
there isn't enough funding for their residencies. Other areas, like 
Garfield County, simply have no doctors at all.
  As cochair of the Congressional Rural Health Caucus, I can tell you 
this legislation directly helps by bringing more physicians to places 
like eastern Washington by providing creative avenues for funding our 
graduate medical education. It also helps solve the longer-term problem 
of too few doctors in rural areas, because studies show that, when 
people do their residencies in the rural areas, they're more likely to 
practice in the rural areas.
  I urge the support of this legislation, and I thank Mr. Thompson for 
joining me in introducing it.

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