Senator Rosen Pushes for More Residency Slots

As we continue work on the 2026-2030 Nevada Cancer Plan, it has been made clear that we must focus on expanding our healthcare workforce and increasing the number of physicians in our state. That starts with increasing the number of residency slots available in Nevada, because we know that many medical residents stay in the state where they completed their residency training.

This week Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen urged the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate more graduate medical education residency slots to Nevada, highlighting the state's severe physician shortage. She noted Nevada's low rankings for active doctors, primary care physicians, and surgeons, exacerbated by rapid population growth.

As we work on objectives and strategies for the new cancer plan, we've collected data showing we are drastically short of providers in rural communities and for certain specialties, but more basically, in general pediatric care. Often, Nevadans must leave the state for specialized cancer care. For children, that is often the norm, and mandatory for certain treatments like bone marrow transplant.

To move the needle and improve Nevada's ability to train and retain physicians, Rosen requested information on past allocation decisions, guidance on improving Nevada's chances in future rounds, and recommendations for revising outdated GME caps. She emphasized what we know: increasing residency slots is vital to improving access to care in the state.

Read the full letter here: https://www.rosen.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Rosen-to-HHS_GME-slots-NV11.14.24.pdf