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In an opening statement, the Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said: “…We can do better, we must do better, and we will do better. We should provide relief for all our hospitals and providers from overly burdensome regulations and bureaucracies … There is much to be done. And today we are lucky to hear firsthand accounts from providers serving rural communities.”
Joslin was invited by Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and was one of four experts to testify from across the country. Joslin focused his remarks on Community’s unique mission and its desire to expand federally funded, graduate medical education slots to better serve rural parts of the San Joaquin Valley.
In affiliation with University of California, San Francisco, Community supports the training of 250 medical residents studying in eight areas and another 50 fellows studying in 17 medical sub-specialties. Joslin noted the number of federally funded slots have been frozen since 1997 and should be increased to meet the healthcare needs of the Valley.
As the largest healthcare system in the region, Community’s four hospitals — including the urban Regional Medical Center in Fresno — provide critical care to vast rural regions of the Valley. Those regions have insufficient numbers of physicians, however — a problem Community wants to help correct.
View video of Joslin's testimony.
Mary Lisa Russell reported this story. Reach her at MedWatchToday@communitymedical.org
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