Bipartisan FAIR Act Introduced to Promote Transparency in Medical Residency Criteria

New Mexico U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Steve Daines of Montana, and Senator Angus King of Maine introduced the Fair Access in Residency (FAIR) Act, legislation to increase transparency in the residency criteria for medical school graduates. The bill aims to address physician shortages by promoting fairness and equality in the residency process for both Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) students. The FAIR Act will bring transparency to residency programs, helping ensure that both DO and MD students have equal opportunity to complete their training and serve patients.

Key Takeaways:

• The FAIR Act aims to promote fairness and equality in the residency process for both DO and MD students, reducing unnecessary barriers and increasing matching rates to address physician shortages.
• Osteopathic medicine is one of the fastest-growing health professions in the United States, with 25 percent of medical students now educated in colleges of osteopathic medicine.
• Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs often exclude DO applicants or impose burdensome requirements, with 32 percent of residency program directors "never" or "seldom" interviewing DO candidates and at least 56 percent requiring the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for DO students.
• The FAIR Act will remove unnecessary residency criteria by requiring Medicare-funded GME programs to annually report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the number of applicants and accepted residents across MD and DO credentials.
• The legislation is led by Senators Heinrich, Daines, and King in the Senate, and Representatives Diana Harshbarger, Chellie Pingree, Sam Graves, and Don Davis in the House, with over 70 national and state health organizations endorsing the bill.

Statistics:

• 32 percent of residency program directors "never" or "seldom" interview DO candidates.
• At least 56 percent of residency program directors require the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for DO students.
• 25 percent of medical students are educated in colleges of osteopathic medicine.
• More than 73 percent of DOs practice in the state where they do their residency training.
• The FAIR Act will ensure that programs failing to report residency applicant information will be subject to a 2% annual reduction in their Indirect Medical Education (IME) payments.

Sources:

• United States Senators Martin Heinrich, Steve Daines, and Angus King
• National Resident Matching Program
• American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)