FAIR Act
Key claim: The FAIR Act would require hospitals receiving Medicare graduate medical education payments to report osteopathic and allopathic residency applicant and acceptance counts to CMS and affirm they consider both, with a 2% GME payment cut for noncompliance and public posting of the data.
Abstract
(HR2314 · 119th Congress) Fair Access In Residency Act of 2025 or the FAIR Act of 2025 This bill requires hospitals that receive graduate medical education (GME) payments under Medicare to report certain information about the composition of their medical residency training programs. Specifically, hospitals must provide to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (1) the number of applicants for residencies who are from osteopathic medical schools and from allopathic medical schools, (2) the number of applicants who are accepted from each of these types of medical schools, and (3) an affirmation that the hospital considers applicants from each of these types of medical schools and accepts specified related examination results, as appropriate. Hospitals that do not provide this information are subject to a 2% reduction in their GME payments. The CMS must post the information it receives on a public website. Latest action (2025-03-25): Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Why this matters
The FAIR Act would use Medicare’s GME payment lever to compel hospitals to disclose and consider osteopathic alongside allopathic residency applicants, with a 2% payment penalty and public data posting for noncompliance. For teaching hospitals, this adds a new reporting and attestation burden tied to Medicare funding; for DO applicants and the physician workforce pipeline, it could shift residency selection transparency and access. Status: introduced legislative proposal, not yet enacted.