The Dr Synonymous Show

Special Show about #SaveGME, supporting Graduate Medical Education funding for Primary Care (mostly Family Medicine).  Health Care  blog review and discussion, starting with Family Medicins Rocks "What #SaveGME Means to Me" posted by Dr. Mike Sevilla outlining the GME funding debate that is part of the Medicare budget debate in Congress.  Clarifying blog posts from Dr Kevin Bernstein "GME Funding for Family Medicine Residencies Must Be Preserved..Now!" in The Future of Family Medicine Blog, Dr Ben Miller (PhD-Psychology) in his blog Collaborative Care 7/10 and 7/12 posts, Dr Mark Ryan in his blog Life in Underserved Medicine wrote "Another Reason to preserve Medicare Funding:  We NEED More Doctors" , me- Dr. Pat Jonas in my Dr Synonymous blog "Family Physician Training:  Save GME Funding for Primary Care" and Dr. Jennifer Middleton writing from her blog- The Singing Pen of Dr Jen "Why Does GME Matter" round out extensive commentary about this issue.  Special guest and social media inspiration, Dr Mike Sevilla joined me by calling in during the chat to discuss this issue and the Family Medicine workforce issues that face us.  Family Doctors want to serve patients.  #SaveGME Funding is one way to insure that we can keep the pipeline of Family Medicine going to serve patients.  The GME money needs to go directly to the primary care residency programs, not the hospitals, to insure that the primary care doctors get the training.  Hospitals with stressed budgets may be reluctant to prioritize primary care as highly as more lucrative specialty training that better supports the hospital budget.  We ask listeners to contact their Congressional officials to enhance the importance of saving GME for Primary care training.