SACRAMENTO – Today the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) awarded $49.6 million in grants to 54 organizations with primary care residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. These grants will support 17 new and expanded programs and create 87 new residency positions across California. This funding is available in part from the $1.4 billion Workforce for a Healthy California for All package that aims to expand and diversify the health workforce.
“The Song-Brown Healthcare Workforce Training Act is vital to California’s efforts to provide equitable access to health care,” said HCAI Director Elizabeth Landsberg. “These grants will help grow and train the next generation of healthcare professionals to provide critical care to residents throughout California.”
The Song-Brown Healthcare Workforce Training Act, established in 1973, helps organizations create and expand primary care residency programs, as well as registered nursing, midwifery, and family nurse practitioner/physician assistant training programs. Funding priorities for Song-Brown programs include training and placing graduates in medically underserved areas and increasing health provider diversity.
Hear the impact of Song-Brown Healthcare Workforce Training Act grants as Dr. Debbie Lupeika of Shasta Community Health Center talks about how these funds helped her primary care residency program.
“Through these grant awards we will put more doctors in areas of unmet needs and further our goal of increasing access to equitable and affordable health care for individuals throughout the state,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.