a major teaching center ,
As
Baylor Scott & White offers
GME training to hundreds of residents and fellows at hospitals throughout Central Texas . Advanced education in medicine continues the vital training of medical students who have completed the four-year medical school degree and helps them prepare for clinical practice .
“ It ’ s essentially on-the-job training . We consider it an honor to help prepare students to practice medicine ,” says Christian Cable , MD , an oncologist with Baylor Scott & White Health , medical director of Scott & White ’ s GME program , and chairman of the GME Committee .
Dr . Cable says the GME program at Baylor Scott & White benefits not only the system and its patients but also the state of Texas by adding to the number of physicians living and working in the state . Statistics show most residents and fellows remain in the state where they received their training . Furthermore , 20 percent of the Baylor Scott & White GME graduates take jobs in the Baylor Scott & White system . “ We have a wonderful pool of young physicians to recruit from ,” Dr . Cable says .
Growth and a funding gap But funding medical school graduates ’ training at Baylor Scott & White Health poses challenges because residents and fellows do not pay tuition . Instead , they receive salaries to work alongside Baylor Scott & White teaching physicians , who are affiliated with the Texas A & M Health Science Center College of Medicine , to learn their medical specialties . Depending on their chosen specialty , graduates ’ training takes three to seven years . The cost of GME training is expensive and is further challenged by limits to public funding established two decades ago .
As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 , a cap was imposed on the Medicare funds that could be used to meet the costs of graduate medical education programs . The cap froze the number of GME positions per training center , based on 1996 population statistics . In the 20 years since , the population along the Interstate-35 corridor has grown tremendously and so have the operations of Baylor Scott
sw . org | Spring 17 THE CATALYST 35