News

September 21, 2022By Physicians for a Healthy California General

Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC) continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and California’s physician shortage.

As of 2022, PHC has invested over $653 million in underserved communities to increase access to care. CalHealthCares secured a one-time appropriation for $340 million in loan repayment funds to physicians and dentists committed to providing care to Medi-Cal communities. CalMedForce secured an annual appropriation of $40 million, totaling $200 million over a span of five years, to support physician graduate medical education programs to sustain, retain and expand resident positions.

PHC has also contracted with the California Department of Public Health to administer four unique grants to help organizations support COVID-19 related initiatives:

• CalVaxGrant and KidsVaxGrant 1.0 awarded over $39 million to organizations newly enrolled in the California COVID-19 vaccine program (myCAvax) or committed to expanding hours outside of the normal or existing clinic hours.
• KidsVaxGrant 2.0 secured an additional allocation of up to $13.4 million for providers serving pediatric populations. The COVID-19 Test to Treat Equity Grant has an allocation of up to $59 million to support safety-net providers to operationalize access to clinically appropriate COVID-19 therapeutics.