>And imagine taking hospitals at face value that residents don't provide value. That is, on its face, a stupid claim.

It's the reason why the resident system was created in the first place. Hospitals didn't want to pay fresh doctors anything originally. It was a hastle to have them around at all.

The American Medical Association, created this system so fresh new doctors could get paid something even if they aren't actually adding much value during the time they're learning their trade, because of the time needed to train them and the increased liability.

> Residencies are traditionally hospital-based, and in the middle of the twentieth century, residents would often live (or "reside") in hospital-supplied housing. "Call" (night duty in the hospital) was sometimes as frequent as every second or third night for up to three years. Pay was minimal beyond room, board, and laundry services. It was assumed that most young men and women training as physicians had few obligations outside of medical training at that stage of their careers.

It's why they're called residents. It's necessary for the first few years of work to be extended training because no one wants to send fresh medical school grads directly into patient work by themselves.

But on the other hand, said workers are barely worth anything to the institutions because they need their hands held.