[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RESTORING THE DOCTORS OF OUR COUNTRY THROUGH SCHOLARSHIPS ACT OF 2014

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 28, 2014

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation that 
will address the gaping hole in our country's workforce of primary care 
physicians. Due to the retirement of a generation of physicians, the 
aging of our population, and the entry into the system of some 30 
million newly insured thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we do not have 
enough primary care doctors to meet demand. One estimate projects a 
national shortage of approximately 45,000 primary care doctors by 2020. 
This problem will continue to worsen without a major initiative to 
produce new physicians.
  Primary care doctors are the front lines of our physician workforce. 
Under the right conditions, they oversee and coordinate health care for 
their patients. They educate patients on how to prevent illness and 
manage chronic conditions. They are the medical generalists who 
establish long-lasting bonds with patients throughout their lives. 
Proper primary care is also one of the keys to containing health care 
costs. On the other hand, inadequate primary care leads to neglected 
and mismanaged conditions, which causes costly emergencies and 
illnesses downstream.
  I am introducing the RDOCS Act to help solve this problem. Modeled 
after the successful ROTC program, RDOCS offers full scholarships to 
medical students in exchange for a 5-year service commitment in a 
medically underserved area. RDOCS will be administered by the states, 
which will send RDOCS scholars to their state-operated medical schools. 
RDOCS officers (as they are known after graduation) will then become 
licensed and serve as primary care doctors in their state of residence. 
The program is designed to ensure that at least 4,000 new scholarships 
are awarded each year.
  Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we are going to get close to 
universal health coverage in the United States. But universal coverage 
will not be meaningful if we don't have enough doctors to serve our 
population. RDOCS is a major step in this effort, and in the future 
Congress must build upon this program by expanding graduate medical 
education and creating additional residency slots to train these new 
doctors. I am optimistic that Congress can demonstrate the leadership 
needed to restore our physician workforce for the next generation.

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