At a special ceremony held by San Joaquin Medical Society at St. Joseph's Medical Center (SJMC), Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC) awarded $2,7 million to SJMC and $450,000 to SJ General Hospital to support their local Residency programs. These are programs to train doctors in several disciplines to benefit the local communities.
Lupe Alonzo-Diaz, Physicians for a Healthy California's CEO, commented on the vital role the residency physician training programs play in improving access to healthcare for all. "The support from PHC impacts dramatically our ability to train and retain physicians in our immediate area. We are sincerely grateful for this award that acknowledges the amazing programs taking place at SJMC," said Don Wiley, CEO and President of SJMC.
Physicians for a Healthy California’s CalMedForce program is committed to growing a diverse physician workforce by supporting, incentivizing and expanding graduate medical education in California. Their goal is to grow and strengthen the physician pipeline to meet the demands of California’s growing patient population, with a focus on medically under-served areas and populations.
In November 2019, CalMedForce announced awarding $38 million to support medical training and residency programs across the state to help grow the physician workforce by supporting 72 GME programs, supporting 156 physician residents. The average payor mix for awardees was 88% Medi-Cal, dual eligible, indigent and uninsured.
The funding, generated by the voter-approved Proposition 56 tobacco tax in 2016, will pay for 198 residency positions in 89 Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs at hospitals and clinics, with an emphasis on programs serving medically underserved groups and communities.
In total, hundreds of programs in hospitals, medical centers and community clinics have received grants to retain and expand GME programs in primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology) and emergency medicine.
California is a mass exporter of medical students. Every year, hundreds of graduating medical students do not secure a residency position in California and must leave for an out-of-state program. To that end, CalMedForce supports and expands graduate medical education (GME) residency training programs in California. Physician residents are one critical solution to our state’s physician shortage since each resident conducts approximately 600 patient visits per year.
If you are interested in learning more, visit www.calmedforce.org