Newswise — Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland’s Pediatric Residency Program is the recipient of California’s largest individual Affordable Care Act - Primary Care Residency Expansion (ACA-PCRE) program grant from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) totaling $3.84 million to fund up to 20 new pediatric residents over a 5-year period in order to expand the country’s primary care workforce. Children’s Hospital Oakland, along with Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., received the most sizable award from HHS, and was one of only six residency programs in the U.S. to be funded at this top level.
“We are very excited about receiving this grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, under the Affordable Care Act - Primary Care Residency Expansion Program, because it will support up to an additional four pediatric residents per year, expanding our program over three years, from 78 to as many as 90 residents annually,” said James Wright, MD, Director of Children’s Pediatric Residency Program. “Children's Hospital Oakland was one of only a handful of children’s hospitals across the nation to be awarded this grant, and it enables our residency program to help meet the nation's need of training more primary care pediatricians for the future.”
The HHS invested $320 million to expand the primary care workforce, with $167.3 million going to the PCRE program. The goal is to increase the number of primary care physicians by expanding enrollment in accredited primary care residency programs (general pediatrics, general internal medicine, and family medicine). According to the HHS, the ACA-PCRE program funds 82 accredited primary care residency training programs and by 2015, the program will support the training of 889 new primary care residents.
“The expansion of our Pediatric Residency Program is a tangible example of how the healthcare reform bill is creating not only increased access to care but also increasing the number of healthcare providers, especially in communities of need. There is a dire shortage of primary care physicians in the U.S., including pediatricians. This grant allows us to help address the physician shortages,” said Carol L. Brosgart, MD, Children’s Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer.
The ACA-PCRE grant will fully fund the 3-year residency training of up to four additional members of each Children’s Hospital Oakland pediatric residency class that start in 2011 through 2015. These will be residents who are committed to a primary care pediatric career in medically underserved areas in the U.S.
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