Osteopathic Medical Schools Warn of Fallout From Federal Shutdown

MedPage Today (10/17/25) McCreary, Joedy

The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) has called on Congress to end the federal government shutdown, warning that prolonged disruption could severely impact the nation's 44 osteopathic medical schools, which are disproportionately vulnerable due to their rural focus and reliance on federal funding for education, training, and research. AACOM emphasized that many of these institutions operate in health professional shortage areas and lack the financial flexibility to absorb funding delays, particularly when planning costly residency programs. To address systemic challenges, AACOM voiced support for two bills: the Community TEAMS Act, which would expand rural clinical training through new grants, and the FAIR Access in Residency Act, which seeks greater transparency and fairness in Medicare-funded residency programs by requiring hospitals to submit annual reports on the number of allopathic and osteopathic applicants and accepted residents and to declare they accept osteopathic applications and the COMLEX-USA licensing exam.

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