Grant funding priorities for primary care

In this time of rapid change in medical education and health care financing, and because of a growing concern that we are not producing enough primary care physicians, it is appropriate that attention be given to significantly rewriting the authorization for Health Manpower Training Grants. Increased funding for primary care health manpower is one of the pieces that has the potential to increase the attractiveness of primary care specialties to students. The Title VII funding authorization has been critical in the support of many predoctoral, residency, and faculty development programs over the last 15 years and has the potential to become even more critical in the next five to 10 years. Specifically, there needs to be a doubling of the authorization of the funding for both the family medicine and the general internal medicine/general pediatric grant sections. The funding priorities need to be reexamined and service objective funding may need to be included. Predoctoral funding cycles should be added to the general internal medicine/general pediatrics 784 grant cycle. Increased creativity and thought should be given to faculty development programs. The academic disciplines and their professional societies, specifically the Ambulatory Pediatrics Association, the Society of General Internal Medicine, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, are supportive of these issues and believe that an increase in funding will increase the effectiveness and output of primary care physicians so that we will be better able to meet the health care needs of our society.