Calif. Teaching Hospitals Among Recipients of Primary Care Grants

HHS has announced that the Health Resources and Services Administration recently awarded about $12 million in Affordable Care Act funds to primary care residency programs at 32 teaching health centers, including four in California, FierceHealthcare reports (Caramenico, FierceHealthcare, 7/23).

The $12 million was provided through the ACA's Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Payment Program (HHS release, 7/19).

Primary Care Shortage in Calif.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, only about one-third of active physicians in California practice primary care. In addition, many of the state's primary care providers are near retirement age.

Meanwhile, observers say that a shortage of such physicians could increase under the ACA, which will offer health insurance to millions of additional state residents (California Healthline, 4/23).

Details of Funding

The funding was allotted to help train more than 300 resident physicians in primary care during the 2013-2014 academic year, which is twice as many as in the previous academic year (FierceHealthcare, 7/23).

The four California centers that received the funding were:

• Fresno Health Communities Access Partners, which received $150,000;
• Shasta Community Health Center in Redding, which received $150,000;
• Social Action Community Health System in San Bernardino, which received $525,000; and
• Valley Consortium for Medical Education in Modesto, which received $712,500 (HHS release, 7/19).