Bill > AB730

This bill addresses medical education and physician workforce challenges in California's San Joaquin Valley by establishing a new program for the University of California, Merced (UCM) Medical Education Collaborative. The bill appropriates $15 million annually from the General Fund to support the collaborative, which is a branch campus of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. The legislation acknowledges California's critical shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, where there are only 47 primary care physicians per 100,000 patients, compared to the recommended 60-80 per 100,000. The bill highlights the underrepresentation of LatinX, African American, and Native American physicians and California's low medical student enrollment per capita. The UCM Medical Education Collaborative aims to address these issues through strategies like developing student pipeline programs, using holistic applicant review, emphasizing primary care competencies, creating new residency training programs, and recruiting students from historically excluded populations. As a condition of receiving funding, the collaborative must develop a program to help medical residents apply for physician retention programs, such as the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, with the long-term goal of eventually establishing an independent medical school to serve the region's healthcare needs.

Budget and Finance, Education

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB730