August 20, 2026
Over the past decade, California has made significant investments in graduate medical education (GME), expanding training opportunities and developing innovative approaches to physician workforce challenges across the state. Yet despite that progress, physician shortages and geographic disparities persist, leaving many communities without adequate access to care. Better connecting that work — bringing programs, institutions and regions together to share what’s working and extend its impact — can help California build on that progress.
That idea was at the center of Physicians for a Healthy California’s (PHC) inaugural GME Leadership Summit, Building California’s GME Ecosystem Together, held July 21, 2026. GME leaders from across the state examined persistent workforce needs, shared approaches already showing promise and identified common challenges and priorities for the work ahead.
PHC President and CEO Lupe Alonzo-Diaz opened the summit by emphasizing PHC’s role not only in supporting residency positions, but also in bringing leaders together and strengthening the partnerships that help programs — and the communities they serve — succeed.
Where Physicians Train Matters
Where and how physicians train can shape where they ultimately practice, making GME an important part of addressing California’s uneven physician workforce distribution.
At the GME summit, Mathematica’s Diane Rittenhouse, M.D., MPH, examined GME through a workforce policy lens, while UCSF’s Janet Coffman, Ph.D., MPP, M.A., highlighted how California’s GME growth has played out geographically — for example, while family medicine programs have expanded into rural areas, many specialties remain concentrated in the state’s largest population centers.
But communities across California are already developing creative ways to address those gaps.
Healthy Rural California connects hospitals, community health centers, tribal health organizations and other partners to build a pathway that stretches from early exposure to health careers through residency training. Adventist Health connects residency programs across its health system and begins focusing on physician retention while residents are still training. The COMET Collaborative brings medical education and community partners together across California and Oregon to strengthen opportunities throughout the physician workforce continuum.
These models are different, but they point to the same opportunity: California does not need every community or program to solve its workforce challenges alone. Connecting successful approaches across institutions and regions can help local innovation travel farther.
What GME Leaders Need
That theme continued in feedback from summit participants.
GME leaders identified financing, faculty capacity, recruitment and retention, and access to clinical training opportunities as recurring pressures. Just as importantly, they identified what would help: practical resources, timely policy and funding information, focused work groups and more opportunities to learn directly from peers confronting similar challenges.
The message was clear. There is expertise throughout California’s GME community — but leaders need better ways to find it, share it and build on it.
Turning a Summit Into a Statewide Network
The July summit was a starting point. PHC is now building several ways for that collaboration to continue.
- Regional convenings will bring GME and health care leaders together to identify regional priorities, strengthen relationships and ensure local perspectives help shape statewide resources and strategies.
- The GME Learning Collaborative will create an ongoing network for leaders across the physician workforce continuum to exchange ideas, share resources and tackle common challenges.
- PHC consulting services will continue supporting new and expanding residency programs and fellowships through feasibility studies, accreditation guidance and related technical assistance.
Together, these efforts are intended to make it easier for programs to learn from one another, share successful approaches and turn expertise developed in individual communities into progress across California.
California has already made real progress expanding GME. The next opportunity is to connect that work more intentionally, giving successful ideas, partnerships and solutions a path to reach farther.
Join the Effort
Interested in bringing GME leaders together in your region or exploring support for a new or expanding program? Contact Kristy MaKieve at kmakieve@phcdocs.org.
Subscribe for PHC updates and opportunities to participate in the growing GME Learning Collaborative, or contact phc@phcdocs.org with questions.
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