The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), has announced the availability of $19.2 million in American Rescue Plan funding to support and expand community-based primary care residency programs. Awardees will use this funding to train residents to provide quality care to diverse populations and communities, particularly in underserved and rural areas.
The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program supports training in community-based care settings. These training sites offer primary care and dental residents experience working with diverse, high-need patient communities in areas that often lack sufficient primary care physicians and dentists. After completing residencies, the majority of THCGME program graduates continue to practice in underserved or rural settings and two-thirds continue to practice primary care – nearly double the average of all medical and dental graduates.
This THCGME funding opportunity will increase the program’s reach and support the equivalent of approximately 120 full-time resident positions. This funding opportunity supports greater expansion by allowing more applicants to apply that have recently been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Commission on Dental Accreditation. Existing HRSA THCGME residency program recipients may also apply to increase the number of resident full-time equivalents they support.
