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S 1044119th CongressIntroduced
Physicians for Underserved Areas Act
Introduced: Oct 29, 2025
HealthcareLabor & EmploymentSocial Services
Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs
The Physicians for Underserved Areas Act amends Medicare regulations to reform how residency training slots are redistributed when hospitals close, requiring new criteria that prioritize hospitals demonstrating likelihood of utilizing slots within two years and filling them within five years to address physician shortages in underserved communities.
Key Points
- 1The legislation modifies Medicare's residency slot redistribution process by establishing strict utilization timelines requiring new programs to start using slots within two years.
- 2It mandates that hospitals receiving redistributed slots must demonstrate capacity to fully fill all positions within a five-year timeframe to prevent wasted training opportunities.
- 3The bill specifically targets underserved areas by prioritizing redistribution to institutions that can rapidly deploy physicians to communities with critical healthcare access gaps.
Impact Areas
Teaching hospitals losing residency slots due to closuresMedical residency programs in underserved rural and urban communitiesFuture physicians and graduate medical education pathwaysPatients in areas experiencing physician shortages
Generated by legislative-analysis-ai-2025 on Nov 2, 2025