Alexander: Bill to Ensure Tennessee Children Continue to Have Access to Pediatricians Trained at St. Jude Headed to President’s Desk

WASHINGTON D.C., April 2 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today commended passage by the House of Representatives of legislation to continue the successful children’s hospitals graduate medical education program that supports the training of pediatricians at children’s hospitals in Tennessee and across the country. The legislation was passed by the Senate in November and now heads to the president’s desk.

Alexander said: “I am glad this bill will become law and will continue an already successful program that supports children’s access to pediatricians when they need them. Reauthorization of this important program will allow our children and grandchildren in Tennessee and across the nation to continue to benefit from pediatricians trained at children’s hospitals like St. Jude.”

Alexander is a co-sponsor of the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act, which passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last October. The legislation reauthorizes support for a graduate medical education program that trains doctors at freestanding children’s hospitals. According to the Children’s Hospital Association, the program is effective in supporting the training of more than 6,000 pediatricians and pediatric specialists every year and nearly half of all pediatric residency training in the country.

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