The Medical Education and Research Costs fund, or MERC, is used to train doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, chiropractors and others. The state cut funding in half beginning this fall. But the program has drawn on a variety of funding streams in the past. A brief history:• 1993: The Department of Health launches a three-year study on the impact of medical education and research.
• 1997: MERC is launched with $17.8 million -- pulled from the general fund, health provider taxes, premiums from low-income patients and a federal Medicaid match.
• 1999: A medical education endowment is created from one-time tobacco settlement money.
• 2003: Funding shifts to include a 2.5-cents a pack cigarette tax.
• 2004 to present: MERC becomes a single, annual distribution using a portion of the state's medical assistance program, the cigarette tax and federal match. The formula used to determine how much money goes to teaching hospitals and clinics is based on the number of patients on public health insurance programs, not how many students are being trained.
Source: Minnesota Department of Health