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Program Data

Summary of Data

Graduate Medical Education (GME) is a period of training that occurs after medical students have completed medical school and passed the examination needed to obtain general board certification. GME in a specialty field (residency) and further specializations in a specific clinical field (fellowship) are generally provided in hospital settings with additional clinical experiences in non-hospital sites.

GME is supported primarily by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Freestanding children’s hospitals receive little or no Federal GME support from CMS, because GME funding is tied to a number of Medicare beneficiaries being treated at the hospital. Freestanding children’s hospitals generally do not provide care to patients eligible to receive Medicare. The CHGME Payment Program was created to address this disparity in Federal GME support between freestanding children’s hospitals and other teaching hospitals. Since the inception of the program, freestanding children’s hospitals received more than $2.0 billion in Federal support for GME.

Characteristics of Freestanding Children’s Hospitals Receiving Federal GME Support (2000-2009)

Freestanding children’s hospitals receiving Federal GME funds have increased the number of residents and fellows that they are training since 2000. The number of residents and fellows claimed for Federal support for the 2000 Federal fiscal year (FY) was about 4,263. In the latest Government Performance Results Acts (GPRA) report for Federal FY 2009, the hospitals described training 5,631 pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, and other physicians in the clinical care of children within the US. Of the 5,631 resident FTEs being trained, about 48 percent were in general pediatrics, 24 percent were in pediatric subspecialties, and 28 percent were non-pediatric residents.

In FY 2009, 56 children’s hospitals located in 30 states and Puerto Rico had nearly half a million inpatient discharges. Children’s hospitals vary in size and service mix. The number of available beds at these hospitals varies from 30 to 456. These freestanding children’s hospitals provide services ranging from outpatient ambulatory care to inpatient critical care.