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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000 		Contact: HRSA Press Office
(301) 443-3376

HHS ANNOUNCES NEW SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN'S TEACHING
HOSPITALS TO HELP ENSURE QUALITY HEALTH CARE
FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN

Fifty-six children's hospitals across the nation are receiving payments totaling about $38 million to help ensure that pediatric residents in those institutions receive top-quality training, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The grants represent the first payments under a new program supporting these hospitals.

"This new support is all about quality medical care for America's children," said HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala. "Our kids deserve high-quality care from providers who have received the best possible training, and these grants are one more step our drive to make children's health a top priority for our nation."

The payments are part of a new effort to provide support for independent children's teaching hospitals, similar to support provided to other teaching hospitals. The children's hospitals currently receive less than $2 million annually in federal support for their continuing education programs. At the same time, some 1,000 other teaching hospitals share about $7 billion each year from Medicare to support their graduate medical education programs. Children's hospitals receive little of the Medicare support, because they treat so few Medicare patients.

"The funding disparity has long been a cause for concern because almost a third of all doctors who specialize in caring for children train at independent children's hospitals," said Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration. "Children's hospitals are often the only source of care for many critical pediatric services."

Congress created the CHGME program in 1999 by passing the Healthcare Research and Quality Act, which President Clinton signed Dec. 6. The CHGME program is a two-year measure intended to provide federal funds to support independent children's hospitals while Congress examines the medical education funding system. Congress appropriated $40 million for the program in fiscal year 2000; President Clinton requested $80 million to continue it in his fiscal year 2001 budget.

HRSA is the lead HHS agency for improving health care access for individuals and families nationwide. HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions spent some $341 million in fiscal year 2000 to educate and train culturally competent and diverse health care professionals who provide quality primary health care services to medically underserved communities.

Click www.hhs.gov/news/broadcast/2000/1005.wav.

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