News

October 8, 2024By Physicians for a Healthy California CalMedForce

During its most recent application cycle, the CalMedForce graduate medical education (GME) grant program received applications from 173 residency programs requesting over $137 million to support 773 resident positions. This was a significant increase from last year’s application cycle, where 155 residency programs requested over $121.6 million in funding to support 689 resident positions.  

To put the growing physician shortage into perspective, the number of physicians completing residencies in California has not kept up with the number of primary care physicians retiring. According to a report from the Healthforce Center at UC San Francisco, California will face a shortage of 10,300 primary care physicians by 2030 if trends continue.  

CalMedForce is essential to bridge the gap in California’s physician shortage by supporting and expanding GME residency training programs. Residents play a critical role in expanding access to care, conducting approximately 1,800 patient visits per resident by the time of program completion. 

To date, CalMedForce has supported 1,183 residency positions at 162 unique residency programs by investing over $227 million. The program has funded 292 new residency positions and 149 expanded positions.  

Awardees have noted that CalMedForce enables their programs to:   

• Grow to full capacity   

• Increase resident recruitment from underrepresented minority groups 

• Enhance training and development for faculty and residents 

• Sustain current resident positions 

• Support residents’ well-being and mental health 

• Purchase simulation lab equipment for physician trainees  

Learn more on our website and look out for fiscal year 2024-25 award announcements, coming November 2024.