OME Advocate Newsletter

AACOM thanks Representatives Carol Miller (R-WV), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Troy Carter (D-LA) for reintroducing the Community Training, Education, and Access for Medical Students (Community TEAMS) Act of 2025, H.R. 3885. This bipartisan bill would establish a new grant program within the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to fund clinical rotations for medical students in rural and underserved areas.

“We need more medical school rotations in rural communities, as students who train in these areas are nearly three times more likely to return and serve them as physicians. With 64 percent of colleges of osteopathic medicine requiring clinical rotations in rural and underserved areas, this bill is a vital step toward expanding rural training opportunities, strengthening the physician workforce and improving healthcare access in communities that need it most.”

-Robert A. Cain, DO, AACOM president and CEO

“Americans in rural communities deserve the same quality of health care treatment as patients in more populated areas. The Community TEAMS Act gives medical students the ability to adapt to medical challenges that may arise while serving in rural communities and provides them with opportunities to practice medicine in the rural workforce. By training medical students in underserved areas of our country, we are laying the foundation for better health care in the U.S."

-Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV)

“In communities across the DFW area and throughout Texas, where many families rely on Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) for essential care, we need more medical professionals who are trained and ready to meet the needs of underserved populations. I am proud to help introduce the Community TEAMS Act, which will ensure that medical students gain the community-based training they need to serve communities like ours. By expanding medical training opportunities, we can improve health outcomes and make sure every patient, regardless of ZIP code or income, has access to high-quality care."

-Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX)

More than three-quarters of all medical schools report concerns about the number of clinical training sites. By expanding training opportunities in rural and underserved areas, the Community TEAMS Act will increase healthcare access and strengthen the physician workforce in these communities. 

Learn more and urge Congress to cosponsor and pass the Community TEAMS Act, H.R. 3885!

Register now to join hundreds of osteopathic advocates from across the country at AACOM Advocacy Day for two powerful days of virtual training, inspiration and action on September 9 and 10, 2025. Attend live virtual sessions and urge Members of Congress to advance OME priorities. This free, virtual event will be for roughly two hours each day and is open to all members of the OME community. Further details about advocacy activities and live virtual sessions are forthcoming. Visit the Advocacy Day page for the latest updates and register today!

With the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, now in the Senate for consideration, harmful provisions that eliminate Grad PLUS loans, cap federal borrowing, limit Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for medical residents and establish risk-sharing/accountability for higher education institutions continue to advance through the budget reconciliation process.

With a growing physician shortage, we cannot afford to enact policies that make it harder for COMs to train the next generation of doctors. Contact your elected officials today and urge them to protect the Grad PLUS Loan Program, oppose federal borrowing caps, maintain PSLF eligibility for medical residency and reject unfair risk-sharing/accountability policies that harm students and COMs.

• On June 10, 2025, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released its draft version of budget reconciliation legislation targeting higher education and other programs.
• Both the House and Senate versions propose major changes to student loans, including eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program and PSLF eligibility and capping federal borrowing.
• The Senate proposal caps professional loans at $50,000 per year and $200,000 total while the House version caps professional loans at $150,000 total with no annual cap.
• The Senate’s accountability provision significantly differs from the House's risk-sharing approach. Under the Senate proposal, a professional program would lose eligibility for federal student loans if its graduates’ average earnings ten years after enrollment fall below the average salary of 25–34-year-old bachelor’s degree holders. In contrast, the House bill proposed a risk-sharing model based on a debt-to-earnings ratio that financially penalizes institutions for unpaid student loans incurred by their graduates.
• Last week, the House also moved to address potential Senate roadblocks for their reconciliation bill through adoption of a “deeming resolution” incorporating technical fixes to ensure their bill complies with the Senate’s Byrd Rule.
• For more information on the HELP Committee proposal and a comparison with the House bill, see AACOM’s summary. We will continue to advocate against provisions that will harm the OME community and encourage you to contact your congressional offices to share how these changes will make it harder to train the next generation of doctors.

Take Action!

• On May 30, 2025, the administration released further details on its fiscal year (FY) 2026 Budget Request as a follow-up to the “Skinny Budget” released in early May.
• The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget request provides $94.7 billion, a $32.65 billion cut from $127.35 billion in FY24, including:
• $27.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a cut of $19.8 billion from $47.3 billion in FY24, while reorganizing it into eight Institutes. It would also implement a 15 percent cap on facilities and administration research costs.
• $4.3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a $4.9 billion cut from $9.2 billion in FY24.
• The budget would reorganize HRSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), several CDC centers and more under the newly created Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). The budget justification for AHA is $20.6 billion and includes:
• The elimination of 14 Health Workforce Programs under Title VII and VIII.
• The elimination of the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education program.
• Increases to the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education and the National Health Service Corps.
• The U.S. Department of Education (ED) budget request for FY26 provides $66.7 billion, a $16.6 billion cut from $83.3 billion in FY24, which reflects the desire to wind down ED, and includes $949.67 million in discretionary funds for higher education programs.
• AACOM has concerns with the elimination of and funding reductions for key workforce programs and is developing an advocacy strategy to protect them.
• For more information, see AACOM’s summary.