FAIR Act
Sponsored By: Representative Harshbarger, Diana [R-TN-1]
Introduced
Summary
Promote equitable treatment of osteopathic and allopathic residency candidates. This bill would require hospitals to report residency applicant and acceptance counts by medical-school type and affirm that their admissions policies consider both osteopathic and allopathic applicants. It ties a hospital's Medicare payment adjustment to compliance.
Show full summary
- Hospitals: For discharges on or after October 1, 2026, a hospital's current Medicare payment adjustment would be reduced by 2 percent for each prior fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year 2025, that it failed to submit the required information.
- Reporting details: Hospitals would have to submit, for each approved residency program and fiscal year, the number of applicants from osteopathic and allopathic medical schools, the number of accepted applicants from each school type, and an affirmation that the hospital considers both types and, if it requires an exam score, accepts either the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) or the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
- Public transparency: The Secretary would publish the submitted applicant and acceptance counts and the affirmations on a public website for each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2025.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Residency reporting tied to Medicare payments
Hospitals with approved residency programs would have to report data each year starting in fiscal year 2025. They would report applicants and acceptances by school type: osteopathic and allopathic. They would also affirm they consider both and, if they require an exam score, accept COMLEX-USA or USMLE. HHS would post these counts and affirmations online. For discharges on or after October 1, 2026, Medicare inpatient payments would drop 2% for each prior fiscal year since 2025 with missing reports. The bill would not require programs to accept any set number of students from either school type.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Harshbarger, Diana [R-TN-1]
TN • R
Cosponsors
Pingree
ME • D
Sponsored 3/25/2025
Rep. Graves, Sam [R-MO-6]
MO • R
Sponsored 3/25/2025
Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1]
WV • R
Sponsored 3/25/2025
Davis (NC)
NC • D
Sponsored 3/25/2025
Kelly (PA)
PA • R
Sponsored 5/20/2025
Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15]
PA • R
Sponsored 6/2/2025
Rep. Rogers, Mike D. [R-AL-3]
AL • R
Sponsored 6/9/2025
Cohen
TN • D
Sponsored 6/10/2025
Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]
NE • R
Sponsored 6/17/2025
Rep. Burchett, Tim [R-TN-2]
TN • R
Sponsored 8/22/2025
Rep. Cline, Ben [R-VA-6]
VA • R
Sponsored 9/3/2025
Rep. Vasquez, Gabe [D-NM-2]
NM • D
Sponsored 9/8/2025
McGuire
VA • R
Sponsored 9/15/2025
Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4]
UT • R
Sponsored 11/18/2025
Crawford
AR • R
Sponsored 1/12/2026
Goldman (TX)
TX • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Bean (FL)
FL • R
Sponsored 5/13/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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