Sequestration and Continuing Medical Education

Sequestration was originally designed to cause such budgetary discomfort that it would force Congress and its divergent political parties to come together and negotiate on budget cuts and taxes.  Yet, several weeks after its implementation, it appears that the only legislation that lawmakers could agree upon was to suspend cuts to air traffic control and TSA until September.  And, not surprisingly, the move corresponded with a Congressional recess where legislators were trying to travel home to their districts.  But I digress.

Sequestration is having both a direct and indirect impact on healthcare and continuing medical education. I have received calls from medical associations looking to move their annual meetings online because Federal employee travel bans are causing mass cancellations and significantly decreasing revenue. More recently, I have heard that major academic research centers are temporarily freezing acquisition and hiring budget out fear that NIH funding will soon dry up.

Excellent Plan Congress: Impede advances in patient care by cutting off medical education opportunities while simultaneously hurting organizations and business working to recover from the Great Recession.  But I digress again.

I recently spoke with Sue Pelletier of Medical Meetings Magazine about the impact of sequestration on CME and shared my concerns that what was meant to be a temporary measure may likely become permanent.

You can read the full article in Medical Meetings Magazine at: http://meetingsnet.com/medical-meetings/sequestration-and-medical-meetings