Federal cuts gut programs for minority med school students

Experts say underserved patients will face additional access problems as fewer minority physicians move through the pipeline.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Sept. 25, 2006.

Tomas Acuna is among the last group of minority medical students to benefit from a federally funded program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine aimed to help minorities excel.

"It's taken me from being a questionable student, as far as my ability to survive in this competitive, fast-paced environment, to being a resource for other students," he said.

Cuts to Title VII funding have gutted Centers for Excellence grants sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The money supports programs that give financial support, guidance and academic tutoring to minority and disadvantaged students. The goal is to improve health care access in underserved communities by increasing the number of minority professionals qualified to provide care.

But by 2007, the grants will no longer exist, and leaders within medicine are concerned that the number of minority physicians, already tiny, will plummet further. In 2004 blacks made up 2.3% of total physicians, Hispanics 3.2%, Asians 8.3% and Native Americans and Alaska Natives 0.6%, according to the American Medical Association.

"As underrepresented minorities become a larger percentage of the population, if we don't find a way to bring them into the health care professions, we'll have a health care shortage," said Francisco García, MD, MPH, an ob-gyn and director of the Arizona Hispanic Center of Excellence at the university.

The cuts to end these grants came after the government had already reduced spending on pipeline programs. For example, it put $33.6 million into Centers for Excellence grants for 34 medical schools in 2005, dropping to $11.8 million for four centers in 2006. In a statement, HRSA said "other sources of funding through partnership linkages with private and corporate entities are available to provide support for health professions training. ... Analyses found that eight of every 10 providers that benefited from the ... program's long-term training support did not practice in shortage areas."