(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The House Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations bill eliminates critical public health funding, including Public Health and Preventive Medicine Training Programs. These programs, represented by the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), play a pivotal role in training current and future public health physicians. The entirety of the proposed LHHS funding, which cuts over $24 billion from Fiscal Year 2024, should raise concern not only for board-certified public health physicians, but also for the general public.
“Without federal support, programs will struggle to deliver essential graduate medical education to physicians equipped to tackle the most complex health challenges we face today — or even worse, many programs will cease to exist,” stated ACPM President Dr. Mirza Rahman. “At a time when our Nation faces severe physician shortages, eliminating resources to train doctors is not the solution. Preventive medicine physicians are leaders in medicine — eliminating their primary source of federal support is distressing to the future of healthcare, public health and emergency preparedness.”
The decision to strip funding from these programs undermines the progress made to address chronic disease, rural and underserved community health and natural disaster preparedness. Preventive medicine physicians have an outsized impact on the nation’s health, being trained to care for individuals and whole populations. Given this unique skillset, preventive medicine physicians are particularly qualified to serve in crucial leadership positions in local, state and federal health agencies, private industry, military health and more. ACPM urges policymakers to reconsider this decision and restore funding to these critical programs.
###
About ACPM:
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) is a professional medical society representing approximately 2,000 physicians, dedicated to the practice of preventive medicine; improving the health and quality of life of individuals, families, communities, and populations through disease prevention and health promotion. ACPM advocates for the importance of preventive medicine and the role it plays in safeguarding public health.
Back to news listing
“Without federal support, programs will struggle to deliver essential graduate medical education to physicians equipped to tackle the most complex health challenges we face today — or even worse, many programs will cease to exist,” stated ACPM President Dr. Mirza Rahman. “At a time when our Nation faces severe physician shortages, eliminating resources to train doctors is not the solution. Preventive medicine physicians are leaders in medicine — eliminating their primary source of federal support is distressing to the future of healthcare, public health and emergency preparedness.”
The decision to strip funding from these programs undermines the progress made to address chronic disease, rural and underserved community health and natural disaster preparedness. Preventive medicine physicians have an outsized impact on the nation’s health, being trained to care for individuals and whole populations. Given this unique skillset, preventive medicine physicians are particularly qualified to serve in crucial leadership positions in local, state and federal health agencies, private industry, military health and more. ACPM urges policymakers to reconsider this decision and restore funding to these critical programs.
###
About ACPM:
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) is a professional medical society representing approximately 2,000 physicians, dedicated to the practice of preventive medicine; improving the health and quality of life of individuals, families, communities, and populations through disease prevention and health promotion. ACPM advocates for the importance of preventive medicine and the role it plays in safeguarding public health.