WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced Senate passage of legislation to reauthorize funding for the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program. CHGME, which ensures continued medical training for professionals treating children, has provided funding to seven Ohio children’s hospitals in the past. While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Ranking Democrat on a key health subcommittee, Brown authored the Children’s Hospitals Education and Research Act of 1998, which first proposed the CHGME program.

 “Children’s hospitals from Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland—and across our country—depend on CHGME funding to ensure that their doctors have the right training to treat sick children,” Brown said. “Ohio families and their children count on receiving the highest quality care at our state’s top-notch children’s hospitals—and that means receiving care from physicians specially trained to treat children.”

In April 2013, Brown led 26 Senators in a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee seeking continued funding in fiscal year 2014, and in February 2013, he wrote the President to urge full funding of the program in light of the President’s budget request which would have reduced funding by 66 percent.  CHGME was funded at $269.4 million in fiscal year 2013; the new Senate reauthorization seeks funding at $300 million per year.   

Created by Congress in 1999, the CHGME program allows children's hospitals to sustain, improve, and expand teaching and training programs. As a result, these hospitals are working to reverse a decline in pediatric residencies that began in the 1990s. A survey conducted in 2011 by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions found that significant doctor shortages in many pediatric specialties is delaying the ability of children to gain access to timely care. These shortages contribute to vacancies in children's hospitals that often last 12 months or more.

Ohio is home to seven institutions that have depended upon on CHGME funds.  A list of these facilities and funds they have received in prior years from the CHGME program can be found below.

SUMMARY OF GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PAYMENTS TO FREESTANDING CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS IN OHIO 2000-2011

Hospital

City

FYs 2000-05

FY 2006

FY 2007

FY 2008

FY 2009

FY 2010

FY 2011

Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Cincinnati

$58,257,868.46

$10,608,334.41

$10,488,456.09

$10,752,664.18

$11,388,967.80

 $11,398,326.00

$9,610,598.00

Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital

Cleveland

$23,859,653.03

$5,147,187.55

$5,496,259.42

$5,744,572.21

$5,876,075.53

 $5,666,548.00

$4,610,457.00

Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron

Akron

$18,076,294.81

$3,778,155.83

$3,486,526.52

$3,283,974.59

$3,565,615.85

 $3,636,540.00

$3,008,874.00

Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation

Cleveland

$164,499.01

$32,311.54

$28,939.78

$23,018.48

$22,644.83

 $21, 475.00

$24,476.00

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Columbus

$43,136,386.13

$8,481,341.13

$8,631,536.87

$8,505,240.44

$8,241,126.77

 $8,357, 216.00

$7,338,353.00

Children’s Medical Center

Dayton

$15,099,731.52

$3,029,808.09

$2,694,398.29

$2,643,051.29

$2,809,323.59

 $2, 936, 329.00

$2,462,448.00

Toledo Children’s Hospital

Toledo

$6,787,659.44

$1,371,729.08

$1,208,054.47

$0.00

$0.00

 $0.00

$0.00

TOTAL

$165,382,092.40

$32,448,867.63

$32,034,171.44

$30,952,521.19

$31,903,754.37

 $32,016,434.00

$27,055,206.00

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