Sunday, May 18, 2025
5/18/2025
Value-Based Medical Student Education Training Program - The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is applying for the Medical Student Education Program. By 2036, Nevada is projected to have the highest primary care physician shortage in the country, at 59% adequacy. The entire state would benefit from this program to increase the number of primary care physicians. The School of Medicine Primary Care Touchpoints Education Program would allow our public medical school to expand and support education for medical students, especially to recruit students from tribal, rural, and/or medically underserved communities, to encourage selection of residencies in primary care (family medicine, general pediatrics, general internal medicine), and to prepare them to serve those communities after they complete residency training. Funding would enable primary care faculty interaction with the post baccalaureate pathway, enhancement of the curriculum, augmented and new clinical rotations with new and expanded partnerships, coaching and mentorship, faculty development with the Challenge Point Framework, innovative interdisciplinary projects including Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) for medical students, advancing technology with clinical applications of generative artificial intelligence, and multifaceted scholarship opportunities. The Primary Care Touchpoints Education Program, focuses on evidence-based primary care experiences in rural and medically underserved areas in Nevada that enable students to develop competencies and confidence in primary care delivery and access to healthcare for underserved, rural, and tribal populations and families in Nevada. It aims to equip primary care faculty with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to effectively engage medical students in interactions or "touchpoints" that offer the opportunity to introduce, reinforce, and/or solidify primary care choice. Primary care touchpoints, formal and informal, will occur in the post baccalaureate pathway and during the three phases of the four-year medical school curriculum – Foundations, Clerkship, and Career Explorations. The project is inclusive of training in effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs as described by the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care. The milestones outlined in the work plan all contribute to the overarching goal of increasing the number of medical school graduates who select primary care residency programs thus increasing the number of primary care physicians in Nevada. The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV is requesting Funding Priority 1 and Funding Priority 2. The school of medicine meets Funding Priority 1 since it is located in a state with the greatest number of Federally-recognized Tribes, per the HRSA definition of a state that has two or more federally-recognized Tribes. The school of medicine qualifies for the public-private partnership, Funding Priority 2, exhibited by current working relationships with other entities to provide required clinical experiences in tribal, rural and/or medically underserved communities for the medical students.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).