Chair: Gary Goldbaum                                       Staff: Jessica Cafarella

This is the GME Committee’s first report to the Board since the Committee was created in October 2001. Since that time, the GME Committee has focused on: (1) defining the membership of the Committee; (2) advocating for increased funding for preventive medicine residency programs; (3) preparing the December 2001 Preventive Medicine In-Service Examination and planning for the 2002 exam(s); and (4) finalizing the ACPM Residency Directors Manual. Current activities and upcoming plans in these areas are outlined below.

The ACPM GME Committee was created by combining the GME Subcommittee of the Education Committee and the Preventive Medicine Residency Funding Task Force. Since October, ACPM staff have contacted members of both groups to verify their continued participation on the GME Committee and to update contact information. Staff also have formed a GME Committee listserv for easier communication.

ACPM worked to increase HRSA Title VII funding for preventive medicine residency programs during final deliberations over FY 2002 funding in November and December 2001. ACPM sent letters to Congress through the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC), as well as the Coalition for Health Funding and other coalitions. Funding for Title VII and VIII health professions programs increased from $353 million in FY 2001 to $378 million in FY 2002. The public health/preventive medicine/dental line item specifically received $10.1 million dollars for FY 2002, up $1 million dollars from the previous year.

In January, ACPM staff collaborated with several coalitions to develop requested funding levels for FY 2003. ACPM will be advocating $11.1 million for HRSA Title VII preventive medicine training, approximately $20 million for the public health/preventive medicine/dental line item, and at least $550 million for Health Professions funding.

ACPM is working to create an attractive brochure describing preventive medicine training programs and the need for increased funding, which it can use on the Hill and in working with other organizations. The brochure is expected to be completed in March 2002, in time for Hill visits the following month.

ACPM also will be participating in a February 8, 2002 press event through the HPNEC Coalition, which is designed to respond to the administration’s FY 2003 budget proposal. ACPM will be attending HPNEC’s annual Hill Day in April, and the College is contemplating organizing its own Hill Day in April as well. Preventive medicine resident Charles "Chip" McCannon recently began a practicum at ACPM as part of his training at the Uniformed Service University residency program. He will be working one day a week through June, and he will be assisting in residency funding work among other things.

ACPM also is examining several bioterrorism and public health preparedness bills introduced in the last congressional session for opportunities to strengthen preventive medicine training programs. The United States' renewed attention to the public health system may offer a unique window for highlighting the importance of preventive medicine physicians, the unique competencies they possess, and the glaring need for support of residency training programs.

ACPM staff worked with Committee members to prepare a new Preventive Medicine In-Service Examination for use in December 2001. One-hundred and three preventive medicine residents took the in-service exam in December, brining the total of residents taking the exam last year to 382.

At its in-person meeting in San Antonio, the Committee will be discussing whether to offer the In-Service Exam only once annually, as do most other medical specialties.

The first draft of the Residency Directors Manual was completed in January 2002. The entire manual was reviewed by representatives from the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the preventive medicine Residency Review Committee (RRC). Sections of the manual also were reviewed by the original authors of the sections. The finalized manual will be shared with all residency directors at the Ninth Annual Residency Program Directors Workshop on February 19-20, 2002. The manual also will be made available on ACPM’s website, www.acpm.org.