Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Teaching Health Center Planning and Development Program - Eligible Entity Type: Federally qualified health center (operated alone) Address: 2920 N. Fourth St., Flagstaff, AZ 86004 Project Director: Anne Newland, MD Phone & Email: 928-522-9564, anewland@nchcaz.org Website: northcountryhealthcare.org; coloradoplateauchp.org Residency Type: Psychiatry Funding Preference Statement: North Country HealthCare (NCHC) holds the contract for Arizona’s northern Area Health Education Center (AHEC), the Colorado Plateau Center for Health Professions (CPCHP), and requests funding preference for this AHEC affiliation. Population Target Area(s): Rural, underserved northern Arizona Funding Amount Requested: $500,000 Projected Number of Resident Positions in Newly Established Program: 12 (3-3-3-3) Expected ACGME Accreditation Date: February 28, 2025 Expected Residency Matriculation Date: July 1, 2026 North Country HealthCare, Inc. (NCHC) is a federally qualified health center (mental health HPSA 21) serving fourteen distinct communities across the six northern counties of Arizona in rural and underserved areas. Its mission is to provide affordable, accessible, quality primary care in an atmosphere of dignity and respect where the health and well-being of patients and community are promoted through direct services, education, outreach, and advocacy. As an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited sponsoring institution with over 35 years of experience as an Area Health Education Center and a Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME)-funded family medicine residency program, NCHC is now ready to develop a new Psychiatry Residency Program (PRP). The PRP will be based in Flagstaff, AZ at NCHC and key community training partners including The Guidance Center (TGC), a community mental health center, and Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC), with clinical experiences throughout the region including American Indian communities. The need in northern Arizona for psychiatrists cannot be overstated. Arizona has one psychiatrist per 10,720 residents, and these numbers skew toward major urban centers with only 3% working in rural areas. Health disparities and social determinants of health disproportionately affect the local vulnerable communities. Percent of individuals living below poverty, infant mortality, and mortality rates for diabetes, heart disease, and suicide are all above state and national averages. The project objectives are to: establish a curriculum that provides interprofessional training specific to the needs of northern Arizona and immerses trainees in the care of special populations in the region, including American Indian tribes; recruit sufficient specialty and subspecialty preceptors and ensure residents will encounter a high enough volume of patients; achieve psychiatry program accreditation from the ACGME and maintain ACGME institutional accreditation; develop a resident recruitment plan for recruitment season beginning July 2025; identify private and/or public funding sources to support program development up to the resident start date and to support resident training beginning July 1, 2026; and develop a comprehensive long-term sustainability plan that supports resident training through 2036. NCHC will engage key partners, including academic consultants from the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine, its Graduate Medical Education Committee, its Psychiatry Residency Advisory Group, and other community stakeholders and training partners in the curriculum design and accreditation application. By the end of the grant period, NCHC will have received Psychiatry Program Accreditation from the ACGME, will be prepared to recruit residents for the program to begin July 1, 2026, and will have developed a comprehensive sustainability plan.
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).