A New Formula for Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Payments Based on a Comprehensive Cost Evaluation

 A cost evaluation of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program was conducted to measure direct medical education (DME) and indirect medical education (IME) costs, assess the effect of teaching health center (THC) characteristics on residency training costs, and develop a method and formula for per-resident amount (PRA) payments in baseline and future years for the THCGME program. The cost evaluation revealed that the per-resident amount (PRA) payments currently used in the THCGME program underfunds actual net training costs. The  analysis  is published in Academic Medicine