“We are taking action against this reckless public policy,” said Dr. L. Toni Lewis, President of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) /SEIU Healthcare, explaining why the union filed an “Amicus Curiae” brief barring enforcement of and declaring unlawful a Medicaid rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The rule is scheduled to go into effect on May 25, 2008. It would result in an estimated loss of more than $21 billion in Medicaid payments over five years to the states, causing chaos in the nation’s safety-net hospitals, where CIR members work as frontline providers of care.

CIR’s “Amicus Curiae” brief was filed in the District of Columbia and accepted by the court late in the day on April 18, 2008. It is filed in support of a lawsuit by Alameda Co. Medical Center, the National Association of Public Hospitals, the American Hospital Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“The loss of public funding to safety-net hospitals will result in services being cut, clinics being closed, fewer patients being seen, and a likely elimination of training programs in public teaching hospitals,” reports Dr. Lewis, a Geriatrics Fellow in New York City. “The interests of CIR members and their patients will both be adversely affected if this HHS rule is enforced,” stressed Dr. Lewis.

Safety-net hospitals would be forced to revise their budgets and make cuts, or outright eliminate the services upon which vulnerable patients in their communities rely. Clinics will close, and vital personnel will be laid off.

“The cuts will also cripple the ability of safety-net teaching hospitals to attract and competitively compensate quality attending physicians to supervise and instruct resident physicians, which is required in any teaching hospital,” explains Dr. Lewis. “Our members will lose experience in necessary procedures, as they will be called upon to replace ancillary staff, that are sure to be lost in the event of these funding cuts.”