Tuesday, April 29, 2025
4/29/2025
Teaching Health Center Planning and Development Program - i. Project Abstract a. Eligible Applicant Type: Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) b. Project Director/Contact Information: Eloisa Perard, President and CEO, 950 South Grand Ave, 2nd Floor South, Los Angeles, CA 90015, (323) 669-4321, eperard@queenscare.org c. Residency Type: Family Medicine Residency d. Funding Preference Statement: N.A. e. Population Target Area: Underserved neighborhoods of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County Service Planning Area (SPA) 4 (Metro), including Echo Park, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Westlake North. f. Funding Amount Requested: $500,000 for the two-year project period g. Projected Number of Resident Positions in the New Residency Program to be Established: Four (4) annually h. Expected ACGME Accreditation Date: January 31, 2025 Project Overview: QueensCare Health Centers (QHC) seeks a THCPD grant to plan and develop a new Family Medicine Residency Program, which will add four residents in a new cohort annually and thus enable QHC to, at full capacity, have a residency staff of 12 residents at any single time. QHC will have one teaching faculty per annual cohort, for a resident: faculty ratio of 4:1, which is consistent with American Academy of Family Medicine guidelines. The overall goal is to improve health outcomes for underserved service area residents by increasing the quantity and quality of trained family medicine physicians practicing in the community. The initiative is critically needed, as it is recognized in the literature that the shortage of residency slots in America is so extreme that at least 5% of medical school graduates do not even receive a residency placement. Furthermore, few residencies are in underserved communities, and most residencies are operated by persons and institutions who lack the cultural capital to engage with high-need, diverse communities. QHC can help because it serves low-income and mostly Latino patients, and QHC presently has five health centers in its HRSA-designated service area. QHC is well-placed to offer a family medicine residency, as QHC focuses on health promotion, disease prevention, health education, and empowerment in conjunction with primary care. It is an organization that is culturally aligned with the communities it serves, and it strives to hire and promote people aligned with the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda. In 2021, QHC served 23,993 unduplicated patients with 113,929 encounters, with 79% of patients being Latino. Residency placements will occur at QHC’s five health centers as well as other partnering providers. This will involve forming a Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) to provide oversight of project implementation activities, including selecting or developing the formal curriculum (which will be based on best practices from the American Academy of Family Medicine), forming partnerships for placements, completing the ACGME accreditation process, coordinating with other residency programs and medical schools, etc. The curriculum, whether obtained off-the-shelf, modified, and/or created, will include such standard topics and corresponding rotations as: adult primary care; pediatrics; OB/GYN; general surgery; behavioral health; health education and disease prevention; HIV infection/AIDS prevention and treatment; musculoskeletal and sports medicine; palliative/hospice care, risk management, medical liability, and HIPAA; DEI; etc. Residencies will be three years, with at least 0.5 days per week at a continuity clinic spent with a consistent preceptor, in keeping with recommended practices and standards. Evaluations of residents by faculty staff and specialists, along with in-service examinations, will be conducted periodically to measure academic knowledge and prepare residents for board certification examinations. QHC will closely follow federal and state guidelines for time off and limits on resident clinical work.
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).