Press Release from Rep. Brad Schneider: For More Info, Go Here…
Today, U.S. Representatives Brad Schneider (D-IL), Susan W. Brooks (R-IN), Annie Kuster (D-NH), and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced bipartisan legislation to train more doctors equipped to combat the opioid epidemic.
H.R. 2439, the Opioid Workforce Act of 2019, would create 1,000 additional residency positions over five years to hospitals with addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry, or pain management programs.
This legislation to expand graduate medical education (GME) aims to alleviate the worsening physician shortage, which is anticipated to be as high as 121,000 physicians by 2032 according to a study by the Association of American of Medical Colleges. This shortage is particularly acute in the field of addiction medicine and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. This shortfall of doctors threatens to harm our efforts to reverse the opioid epidemic.
“Turning the tide on the opioid crisis requires treating addiction like the disease that it is, and to do that, we need doctors,” said Schneider. “Our medical professionals on the frontlines of this epidemic are already stretched too thin. Our bipartisan legislation aims to educate more physicians equipped with the latest training in addiction medicine and psychiatry to help the estimated 20 million Americans who need substance use treatment get much needed care.”
