Key Talking Points Re: Title VII Appropriations

• Title VII dollars are critically important for Family Medicine Departments to establish a research infrastructure
   
  
• Funding Levels for Health Professions Training Programs and Title VII
  • All Health Professions Training Programs
    • Current Funding Level - $388 million
    • President’s FY03 Request - $110 million
      (All health professions programs were zeroed out with the exception of Aid to Disadvantaged Students and the Nursing Programs)
    • Senate FY03 Request – $389 million
    • House FY03 Request – $378 million
  • Title VII, Section 747 (Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry cluster)
    • Current Funding Levels - $93 million
    • President’s FY03 Request - $0
    • Senate FY03 Request – $93 million
    • House FY03 Request - $90 million
      
      
• The Republican leadership of the House and Senate must be made aware of the critical need for Title VII funding.
   
  
• The Administration wants to provide safety net primary care services by doubling the number of Community Health Centers (CHC). To do this, they need family physicians to staff the new centers.
  • They plan to build 1,200 new additional CHCs.
  • According to the CHCs’ national staffing data (from 1999), FP/GP represents 45.3% of all physicians, 51.2% of primary care (FP/GP, IM, Peds); 47% of encounters for all physicians, and 52.7% of encounters for primary care primary care physicians.
  • The only federal program designed to increase the number of family physicians is Title VII, Section 747
      
    
• If funding for Title VII, Section 747 is eliminated, or even decreased, research says the number of family physicians will drop.
  • A study by the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies showed that medical schools that received Section 747 family medicine funds produced more medical students who ultimately:
    • practiced in family medicine or primary care,
    • practiced in a rural area, or
    • practiced in a Primary Care Health Professions Shortage Area, or HPSA. (HPSAs are counties with inadequate numbers of family physicians, general pediatricians, general internists, or obstetrician/gynecologists)
  • Sustained funding during the years of medical school training had a more positive impact than intermittent funding.
      
    
• A loss of Title VII, Section 747 funds will hurt the underserved across the nation
  • A study by the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies showed that the US relies on family physicians more than any other specialty.
  • The study specifically looked at HPSAs
  • There are 3,082 counties in the US
  • Currently, 784 are designated HPSAs
  • Without family physicians, there would be 1,332 HPSAs (a 43% increase).