The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM)—the medical specialty society representing physicians who dedicate their careers to disease prevention and health promotion—is very pleased that the U.S. House of Representatives included a $2 million increase to the “Public Health and Preventive Medicine” program at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in its proposed Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020) budget.
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM)—the medical specialty society representing physicians who dedicate their careers to disease prevention and health promotion—is very pleased that the U.S. House of Representatives included a $2 million increase to the “Public Health and Preventive Medicine” program at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in its proposed Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020) budget.
This program is the sole source of funding for our nation’s preventive medicine residency training programs, as well as Public Health Training Centers. Although this amount still falls far short of the funding needed to fill the shortage of preventive medicine physicians, it is a welcome change from the recent years of cuts or flat funding to the program.
“Preventive medicine physicians are vital to ensuring the health of populations in the United States,” said Donna Grande, MGA, CEO of the American College of Preventive Medicine. “This proposed increase in funding is a small step in the right direction of investing in these physicians that are critical in addressing prevention efforts around the opioid epidemic, natural disaster relief, and infectious and chronic diseases.”
The United States currently suffers from a shortage of physicians trained in public health and prevention, largely due to the limited availability of federal dollars to support preventive medicine residency training programs. Without this funding, it would endanger the lives of those afflicted with preventable diseases, and will lead to increased treatment costs for diseases that we know could have been prevented.
The House of Representatives’ proposed budget also increases funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by $920 million, which would include initiatives to modernize the public health capacity at CDC, improve data reporting, and investments in prevention efforts around heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. This increase could not come at a better time, as the rise of public health threats, from this year’s measles epidemic to drug-resistant infections, loom on the horizon. Increasing our country’s ability to respond to health crises will save lives and create healthier communities.
ACPM will continue its work to strengthen our nation’s health system, and hopes that the Senate and Administration support this proposed federal budget in order to truly protect the citizens and health of this country.