WASHINGTON, DC – Last week, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) helped secure the highest-ever funding levels for the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program as a part of the omnibus spending package that was signed into law. This vital program helps train the next generation of pediatricians and will be funded at $315 million next year, an increase from the previous $300 million funding level. Six of Ohio’s children’s hospitals will qualify for millions of dollars annually under the program.

“Caring for our nation’s children demands specialized pediatric training,” said Brown. “For nearly twenty years, the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program has helped train pediatricians and other professionals to treat our children. This reauthorization and funding boost will help Ohio’s children’s hospitals that rely on these resources ensure that all of our children have a healthy start in life.”

“The Ohio’s Children’s Hospital Association and our members applaud the commitment by Congress to support the CHGME program, which provides critical support for training of the next generation of pediatricians. Because Ohio’s children’s hospitals play a critical role in helping to shape, educate and guide future pediatricians in our hospital training programs, we are appreciative that Congress shares our goal of helping to reduce both general and pediatric specialty shortages across the country. Specifically, we are grateful to Senator Brown, who has consistently demonstrated his understanding, leadership and commitment towards ensuring children’s healthcare remains a policy priority,” said Nick Lashutka, President & CEO, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association.

Brown also worked with his Democratic and Republican colleagues last week to introduce the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Support Reauthorization Act, which would reauthorize the CHGME program for an additional five years and increase its authorization to $330 million per year, a $30 million increase from the previous reauthorization and $15 million increase from this year’s funding increase.

Brown has led prior efforts to include CHGME funding in annual appropriations packages and has consistently voted to reauthorize this critical program, which he helped to create in 1999. This legislation provides continued funding for the children’s hospitals in Ohio that continue to depend on CHGME dollars, helping ensure our doctors receive the training necessary to provide our children with the highest quality of care.

The CHGME program has provided children’s teaching hospitals with federal support for job training for physicians who care for children for decades. The program was first enacted by Congress in 1999 with bipartisan support, and has been reauthorized three times since then, each time with broad bipartisan support.

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and David Perdue (R-GA) are cosponsors of this legislation.

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