California residency program losses federal funding

By: Julie McCoy March 26th, 2009

The family medicine residency program at Doctors Medical Center in CA may close due to policies set forth in the 2007 Balanced Budget Act, according to the Modesto Bee.

Hospital and county officials are upset because the program’s 27 residents care for poor and uninsured patients-nearly 35,000 patient visits each year. Additionally, several graduates from the program remain as practicing physicians in the area.

So, what caused CMS to strip the program of its funding? The program started in 1975 at Stanislaus Medical Center, which closed in 1997. At that point, the program moved to Doctors Medical Center, said the Modesto Bee article.

The Modesto Bee reports that the move disqualified the program for GME funding. However, CMS provided reimbursement to the program for several years. Now, CMS has discovered the errors, is taking away the funding, and asking the hospital and county to refund the agency $19.1 million dollars it had paid out to the program between 2001 and 2008.

As of Mar 25th, the county in which the hospital is located agreed to pay CMS $9.63 million and approved another $1.5 million to keep the program afloat in the short term, according to the Modesto Bee. Doctors Medical Center covered the rest of the reimbursement to CMS.

The program, which is affiliated with the University of California at Davis is in good standing with the ACGME.

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