LaMalfa Supports Bill to Continue and Expand Teaching Health Center Program

Press Release

Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) issued the following statement after joining Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) as an original cosponsor of the Training the Next Generation of Primary Care Doctors Act of 2017, which will reauthorize the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program for three years.

In March of 2015, Rep. LaMalfa successfully led an effort to reauthorize funding for the Teaching Health Center Program, which supports the training of primary care physicians and dentists in our rural and underserved areas. California has multiple Teaching Health Center programs, including the Shasta Community Health Center in Redding, CA. A signed copy of the letter is attached.

LaMalfa said: "Strengthening our physician workforce has been a priority of mine since coming to Congress. In the North State, we have a severe shortage of physicians, resulting in less access to vital healthcare services and fewer options available to families and individuals, regardless of their health care coverage. The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program is a powerful tool in creating a physician and dentist pipeline helping rural and underserved areas train and retain more qualified health professionals. I am very proud to work with my colleagues on H.R. 3394, the Next generation of Primary Care Doctor's Act, which provides an important solution to the growing primary care shortages in Northern California and across our country.

Dean Germano, the CEO of Shasta Community Health Center's Family Practice Teaching Health Center that trains Family Physicians noted, "Research shows that nearly 70% of physicians locate within 100 miles of where they train in Residency. By creating and funding these Residency Training programs in Primary Care, we increase the odds of them staying there over the long term."

Doreen Bradshaw, the Executive Director of the Health Alliance of Northern California, said: "We recently conducted a survey of our local physicians in Shasta County and discovered that a distressing number of them are nearing retirement over the next five years. The Teaching Health Center program must be one of the pillars that we lean on in the years ahead to ensure that rural and underserved communities such as ours are able to maintain, if not improve access to quality primary care."

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