HRSA GRANT ENABLES DEPARTMENT TO TRAIN MORE PHYSICIANS FOR RURAL AND URBAN UNDERSERVED AREAS OF ALABAMA

The Department of Family and Community Medicine was awarded a $7 million grant to address the need for training additional family medicine physicians to serve in rural and underserved areas of the state. The grant, from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, will enable the department to develop novel high school and college pipeline programs, medical student programming, and faculty development programs to enhance curriculum and mentoring efforts.

“Currently, our state needs more than 600 additional primary care pro-viders to meet the needs of the patients and the kinds of health conditions that we’ll be seeing by 2030,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. “To address this deficit, we must be aggressive in the family medicine and primary care programming that we develop and im-plement. This grant will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal.”

HRSA, the primary federal agency for improving health care for people who are geographically isolated or economically or medically vulnerable, has awarded the grant for a four-year term, with an annual budget of $1,750,000. Asif has begun laying the groundwork for the department’s enriched training program—the Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE)—which will address six core areas related to interprofessional education, behavioral health, social determinants of health, cultural and linguistic competency, practice transformation, and telehealth.

Alabama needs to add hundreds of additional primary care physicians in the next 10 years to meet demand. “The CU2RE program will help identify, train and retain students interested in family medicine and primary care, particularly those from urban and rural underserved backgrounds,” Asif said. “We will tap into our regional campuses across the state to help broaden our reach, as well as partner with programs such as the Alabama Area Health Education Center, Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, and others to identify high school and college students with a passion for service.” Asif says the grant will help offset the challenges that the region has long grappled with, particularly in its most vulnerable populations. “With an insufficient physician workforce, Alabama struggles to adequately prevent disease; this contributes to our state ranking in the bottom five in the country for many chronic illnesses,” he said. “This HRSA grant is meant to help address the state of Alabama’s primary care workforce shortage and sets the stage for making a considerable impact on the health and well-being of the patients we serve.”

This program is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $7 million with 10% financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

THE CU2RE PROGRAM

The CU2RE program is an educational approach that aims to ensure that more primary and family care physicians graduate from UAB ready to serve urban underserved and rural areas across the state. The program will engage first-year medical students in activities, educational discussions, and hands-on experiences thatwill educate them on the unique challenges that underserved populations face in Alabama.

In June of 2020, the department was awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration that has allowed the department to build a team and put the CU2RE plan into action. The pilot cohort of eight students, who are first-year medical students, started the curriculum in January 2021.

Through the program and the opportunities it offers, the department is poised to continue growing toward community-minded medicine over the next four years and beyond. The structure of the program will encourage regular assessment and longitudinal relationships with CU2RE students and organizations involved with the program.

Partnerships with UAB’s Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa campuses are integral to the program’s success, as well as collaborations with organizations like Christ Health Care and Cahaba Medical Care in Birmingham. The CU2RE mission’s cornerstone isto collaborate with students and healthcare leaders across the state
to better address issues facing all Alabamians and their access to care. In considering the potential impact of CU2RE and the importance of educating providers on the need for such a program, Asif and his colleagues are ready for a busy four years as the program is implemented.

“In 2021, I am excited about the delivery of the UABSOM’s first Urban Underserved Pathway in primary care,” said Asif. “This program aims to teach students more about differences in cultures, social determinants of health, and common medical conditions in the underserved, and also potential mechanisms to improve care delivery. In 2022, we will unite our efforts with our regional campuses to deliver similar programming aimed at caring for the rural underserved. This is a game-changing opportunity for our state, and I am thrilled to be a part of this initiative.”

Looking Ahead 

Another core part of the CU2RE program is working to open a pathway for students in high school and college to pursue family medicine and primary care. A pathway is being developed to give students from around the state, especially those from underserved areas, a chance to shadow family medicine physicians and receive early experiential learning from UAB faculty members. In partnership with other pipeline programs on campus, this part of CU2RE creates longevity for the program as students are exposed to the medical field and the need for primary care in underserved communities before applying to medical school.

“By collaborating with established pipeline programs on campus, we are able to move the needle for CU2RE’s mission through widening exposure to medical curriculum to underserved areas and students studying in those communities,” said Adrienne F. Payne, CU2RE program director. “It is exciting to join with other visionary organizations in increasing access to primary care in Alabama through the healthcare leaders of tomorrow.”