AHA Letter Supporting the Medical Student Education Authorization Act

September 24, 2025

Dear Representatives Cole and Titus:

On behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers — and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups, the American Hospital Association (AHA) writes to express support for the Medical Student Education Authorization Act (H.R. 5428).

Health care professionals provide dedicated, high-quality care to our patients and communities. However, ongoing staffing shortages have contributed to increased stress and burnout of care teams. In 2017, the majority of our nursing workforce was close to retirement, with more than 1 million nurses retiring by 2030. Yet, nursing schools had to turn away over 65,000 qualified applicants in 2023 due to lack of faculty and training sites, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Hospitals face similar demographic trends for physicians, with data from the Association of American Medical Colleges indicating that one-third of practicing physicians will reach retirement age over the next decade. Hospitals also report significant shortages of allied health and behavioral health professionals..

An important remedy the Medical Student Education Authorization Act would provide is grants to public institutions of higher education to expand or support graduate education for physicians, focusing on institutions in states with the most severe primary care provider shortages. Additionally, offering education and training experience in medically underserved communities increases the likelihood that physicians  will practice there after completing their residency.

Hospitals face ongoing, significant challenges sustaining, building and retaining the health care workforce. Our nation simply does not have enough clinicians to care for patients today and too few in the training pipeline for the future.

We thank you for your leadership and dedication in finding bipartisan solutions to address these important issues. The AHA looks forward to working with you to address our health care workforce needs.

Sincerely,

/s/

Lisa Kidder Hrobsky
Senior Vice President
Advocacy and Political Affairs