Graduate medical education: focus for change

The author documents a significant broadening of the interest of both state and federal government in influencing graduate medical education. He states that the unwillingness of the academic medical community to address the issues of manpower supply and specialty distribution, the limited effectiveness of minority enhancement programs, and an ambiguous position on foreign medical graduates have invited government intervention. The author maintains that such intervention was inevitable because academic medical centers have focused only on the educational process and the quality of graduates but have not dealt with the need to shape the output of their training programs to meet national health needs. He challenges the academic medical community to seize the initiative in seeking the difficult-to-find solutions to major issues of medical training or be prepared to yield to the decisions of lawmakers and regulators.