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PA
Educational Programs
Urged to Act Now to
Restore Federal Funding for
PA Program Grants
By Jeremy Leffler
Assistant Director, Federal
Affairs, AAPA
President Bush sent a fiscal year 2006 budget to Congress
that, once again, zeroes out funding for training in primary care
medicine and dentistry under Title VII of the Public Health Service
Act. What we’ve learned from past years is that members of Congress
will add funding to the program if there is a strong show of support
from their constituents. Because of increased competition in funding
priorities, it’s even more important for federal legislators
to hear from you this year regarding the value of these programs.
As you are aware, the Title VII, Section 747 grants
program in primary care medicine and dentistry is a safety net program.
Not only does the program provide training opportunities for students
in medically underserved communities, it also provides medical care
in communities where it would not otherwise be available. The funds
are the only source of federal funding available on a competitive
grant application basis to PA educational programs. If funding is
not restored, approximately $7 million in grants for PA training programs
will be lost. Please contact your members of Congress now and urge
that funding be restored to these crucial programs.
- Please take a few minutes to write a personal letter to your representatives
and senators and request that they support increased funding in
the FY2006 appropriations bill for the Title VII, Public Health
Service Act, Health Professions Programs — particularly the
training cluster on primary care medicine and dentistry. This may
be done easily by logging onto the AAPA’s Legislative Action
Center, http://members.aapa.org/vocus/index.htm,
where you will be directed to a sample letter that you can revise
and send directly to your legislators. Please indicate whether your
program receives Title VII funds and include examples of how your
program utilizes them. It’s also important to add comments
on how the funding benefits the community. (AAPA’s Legislative
Action Center — LAC — is the timeliest way to contact
your congressional members, since the congressional mail system
is still slowed on account of heightened security. The LAC, however,
is a members-only benefit. So if you encourage students who are
not AAPA members to communicate with Congress on the Title VII programs,
unfortunately they’ll have to do so the old-fashioned way.)
- If you send a letter but do not use the LAC, please send a copy
of your letter to me. You may also contact me with any questions
regarding Title VII funding: phone, 703/836-2272, ext. 3204; e-mail,
jleffler@aapa.org;
fax, 703/684-1924.
- Also, please consider meeting with your federal legislators when
they are in your district and/or inviting them to visit your PA
program. You can set up local appointments by calling the legislators’
district offices identified through AAPA’s LAC.
Thank you!
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