SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) provides millions of previously uninsured Californians access to health services, including physician care. As a result of this additional demand for physician services, California’s projected statewide physician shortfall is 17,000 by 2015.
(b) The San Joaquin Valley, which runs from Stockton to Bakersfield, is rich in cultural diversity and is the nation’s leading agricultural region. However, the valley is disproportionately affected by the state’s physician shortage, which is expected to intensify in the years ahead given the high rate of population growth in the area.
(c) Access to physicians in the San Joaquin Valley is already well below the recommended level of 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000 people, with only 48 primary care physicians per 100,000 people in the valley. Additionally, more than 30 percent of California physicians are over 60 years of age.
(d) Several regions of the San Joaquin Valley are federally designated medically underserved areas (MUAs). The calculation of MUAs involves four variables: ratio of primary medical care physicians per 1,000 population, infant mortality rate, percentage of the population with incomes below the poverty level, and percentage of the population 65 years of age or over.
(e) UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME) is providing a key interim resource for training valley health care providers. This program accomplishes all of the following:
(1) Strengthens the desire for new physicians to practice in the San Joaquin Valley, which is one of California’s most medically underserved areas.
(2) Reduces health disparities and inequalities in the San Joaquin Valley.
(3) Forms lasting relationships between the program and communities, hospitals, clinics, and physicians to enhance health care in the region.
(f) Students who take part in a program in medical education at a University of California medical school benefit from firsthand experience with interdisciplinary health care by providing care in medically underserved communities, working with patients and families from culturally diverse backgrounds, and developing a true understanding of the issues and conditions that impact access to and quality of health care in the region.
(g) Despite the numerous benefits it provides to the region, SJV PRIME lacks an ongoing source of funding for its current enrollment as well as the financial resources to expand capacity to meet the needs of the valley.
(h) Given the San Joaquin Valley’s health care needs, it is essential for the State of California to continue developing the valley’s health care resources by sustaining the current SJV PRIME enrollment and expanding that program’s capacity.