Guest Column: Medicaid training is vital in keeping kids healthy

Making children's health a national priority requires that we safeguard Medicaid and the role that it plays for children who rely on the program for health care coverage.

Currently some 37 million children count on Medicaid for access to health care services; cuts or changes to the Medicaid program, whether at the federal or state level, could potentially harm the ability of children to receive care.

Keeping children covered is a national investment in their futures, and access to well-trained pediatricians and pediatric specialists is critical to helping all children -- and especially those with complex medical and mental health conditions -- reach their full health potential.

There is legislation now before Congress that would help ensure an adequate pediatric workforce through the Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program.

The proposed legislation would provide federal funds to children's hospitals to support the training of half the nation's pediatricians and the majority of pediatric specialists.

Without funding for this program the supply of physicians with specialized pediatric training won't keep up with the demand. And even with this additional program funding workforce shortages in some pediatric specialties are begin to emerge. These specialties include:

• Developmental pediatrics.

• Child and adolescent psychiatry.

• Pediatric genetics and genomics.

Improved funding could address these shortages and at the same time help close a significant gap between the funding for training pediatric doctors through the Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program and the money provided through other federal programs to train doctors who treat adults.

Medicaid matters to children's health and supporting the Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program would help ensure that all children have access to the best pediatric specialty care.

Our lawmakers should make children's health a national priority.

Michael Aubin is president of Wolfson Children's Hospital of Jacksonville. This column was originally published in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

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