Opinion: The Covid-19 relief bill created 1,000 more residency slots for new doctors. Wealthy hospitals should be last in line to get them
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that President Biden signed into law in March includes funding for the creation of an additional 1,000 residency slots for newly minted physicians at hospitals across the country. The provision is one of many in the bill that aims to help health systems provide essential care to their patients and communities.
While this important ramp-up is long overdue, an inequitable allocation of these residencies will defeat its purpose. To extend the delivery of necessary health care services in the fairest manner, a significant percentage of the new residencies in basic areas — including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, diagnostic radiology, psychiatry, and emergency medicine — should be established at hospitals in rural, underserved, and tribal areas first. The remaining residencies should then go to wealthy hospitals.
