Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Feds Put Annual $50,000 Cap On Student Loans For Medical School
Modern Healthcare: Education Department Caps Student Loans For 'Professional' Degrees
The Education Department finalized a rule Thursday capping federal borrowing limits for graduate-level aspiring healthcare providers. The final rule, slated to go into effect July 1, will impose an annual borrowing limit of $50,000 annually, or a total of $200,000, for “professional” degree programs, including medical school. (DeSilva, 4/30)
More on medical schools and healthcare worker shortages —
PhillyVoice: Temple University Teams Up With AtlantiCare To Expand Its Medical School To Atlantic City
The AtlantiCare health system is teaming up with Temple in hopes of reducing New Jersey's physician shortage. The first students will start there in 2029. (Bond, 4/30)
kcrg.com: Iowa’s First New Medical School In A Century Takes Shape In Dubuque, Targets 2028 Opening
Jeanne Rupert, the new college’s founding dean, said turning the former insurance building at 500 Main Street into Iowa’s first new medical school in more than a century will take a lot of work. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year, but then comes finalizing accreditation, hiring hundreds of faculty and staff, and recruiting the first incoming class for the fall 2028 semester. (Turnbough, 4/30)
Carolina Public Press: Why UNC-Wilmington Wants To Launch A Medical School
If UNCW wins approval for medical school, it would avoid a teaching hospital model, instead bringing residents to hospitals across SE NC. (Denning, 4/30)
The Cap Times: Her Island Has No Hospital. So She Chose To Go To Medical School.
A student at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health plans to return to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to be a cardiologist after graduating. (McGroarty, 4/28)
More news about healthcare workers —
Verite News: University Medical Center Nurses To Launch 5-Day Strike
Nurses at University Medical Center will begin a five-day strike on May 1 (Friday) following more than two years of bargaining with the hospital’s administration for an initial collective bargaining agreement. The union filed a charge against UMC with the National Labor Relations Board last Monday, accusing the hospital of “surface bargaining” — dragging out negotiations with no intent of reaching a contract that satisfies both parties. In November, UMC filed a similar charge of bad faith bargaining against the National Nurses Organizing Committee, which represents UMC’s unionized nurses. (Yehiya, 4/30)
Becker's Hospital Review: Decades-Old Formula Error May Be Causing Hospitals To Underbudget Nursing Staff: 4 Notes
A structural calculation error embedded in nursing workforce planning textbooks, government frameworks and credentialing programs since at least 1960 may be causing hospitals to systematically underestimate the number of full-time equivalent nurses they need to budget, according to an April 17 analysis published by nursing informatics specialist Robert Wingo, BSN, RN. Here are four things to know. (Bean, 4/30)
MedPage Today: Physician Groups Want Better Enforcement Of No Surprises Act
Dozens of physician groups, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians, sent a letter to HHS and other federal agencies urging stronger enforcement of legislation meant to prevent "surprise billing." The No Surprises Act, signed into law in 2020 by President Donald Trump, was intended to protect patients from unexpected bills for care from out-of-network providers and to ensure fair contracts between health plans and physicians. (Firth, 4/30)
KFF Health News: Delays In Visa Program Threaten Placement Of Hundreds Of Doctors In Underserved Areas
Hundreds of foreign doctors about to complete training in the U.S. will have to leave the country if the federal government doesn’t rapidly process their visa waiver applications, which have been languishing since the fall and winter, immigration attorneys say. The waiver program, run by the Department of Health and Human Services, allows physicians who aren’t U.S. citizens to stay in the country while transitioning from the visa they used during their training to temporary worker status. In exchange, the doctors agree to work in underserved areas for at least three years. (Zionts, 5/1)
Also —
Stat: OpenAI Model Outperforms Doctors In Diagnostic Reasoning Study
Getting a paper published in Science is a highlight of many researchers’ careers. But for internist and clinical artificial intelligence researcher Adam Rodman, it’s also been a source of some agita. (Palmer, 4/30)
