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After receiving a state budget forecast that was less dire than feared, Oregon lawmakers did not end up slashing funding for medical residencies and fellowships, officials say.
The idea had been floated, among many others, as state agencies identified potential ways to cut spending amid what was as of late last year projected to be a major shortfall in the state budget.
Oregon Health & Science University, which runs the vast majority of the state’s graduate medical education programs, had warned against such cuts, arguing they would force it to slash the size of an incoming resident class by 10%.
This mattered, they argued, because residency slots are a pinch point as health systems try to get more doctors online.
Still, few people, if anyone, loved the idea of cutting residency slots. And an updated budget forecast released midway through the Oregon Legislature’s short session made it unnecessary to seriously considering doing so in the end. The session was gaveled out Friday evening.
“Cuts turned out to be very minor and fortunately [graduate medical education] was not impacted,” OHSU spokesperson Sara Hottman told WW Friday, as lawmakers adjourned this year’s legislative session.
Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland), the House Health Committee Chair, said by phone that such a cut would have only been considered if state finances were looking really bad.
“The budget’s in better shape than I thought it was going to be,” he says. “We’re OK. It’s not amazing, but it’s fine.”
