All New Yorkers should have access to safe, affordable and high-quality health care. The COVID-19 pandemic taxed an already strained health care system, exacerbating disparities and systemic health care delivery issues, as essential health workers heroically forged against the surges to care for New Yorkers. New programs and funding will strengthen the pipeline of diverse medical professionals and support individuals looking to enter and grow in the health care and direct care fields.
Diversity in medicine is a critical component of equitable health care. The Diversity in Medicine Program provides a pipeline for students from underrepresented backgrounds to enter medical school. This 12-month post-baccalaureate program is for students who meet certain demographic criteria and have not received acceptance to any medical schools. Students are referred by a participating medical school and receive formal mentoring, advising and tailored curricula. Students who successfully complete the Post-baccalaureate programs are guaranteed acceptance by the referring medical school.
For more information, visit the program’s website.
The Pre-medical Opportunity Program empowers well-qualified students from underserved communities to enter – and successfully complete – medical school and/or doctoral programs in the medical sciences. The program provides academic support, mentoring, clinical exposure, shadowing and research opportunities, workshops, financial assistance, and application guidance to EOP students who have demonstrated potential to succeed in careers in medicine.
This program will be open to SUNY students in the Educational Opportunity Program. More information will be available as the program is developed.
For more information, visit the program’s website.
Long-term care workers often face barriers that prevent them from moving between caregiving roles, making it difficult for direct care workers to take new jobs and for care facilities to fill openings. This initiative will facilitate the creation of a model for training “universal” long term care workers who want to move across caregiving roles, ensuring that long term care providers experiencing workforce shortages can identify and deploy trained workers in a timely and efficient manner.
More information will be available as the program is developed.
The State will provide direct financial support for the education of health care professionals, provided that they work in New York State for a specified period after obtaining their credentials. The plan will offer free tuition, cover instructional costs for high demand health occupations, and provide stipends to make up for lost income while in school. It will also provide for wraparound services such as child care and transportation support to eliminate obstacles that make it difficult for New Yorkers to obtain training required for health care professions.
More information will be available as the program is developed.
The State’s medical institutions often lack the training capacity to focus on preparing the next generation of health care professionals as they focus on delivering immediate care to New Yorkers. To support a steady pipeline of high-quality health care workers, the State will make investments to increase the training capacity of medical institutions. This initiative will identify and fund a range of projects to advance this goal, which may include establishing new training programs, developing innovative training approaches and techniques, and providing compensation for workers to train full-time support staff and in doing so expand overall training capacity.
The NYS Department of Health anticipates awards will be announced Summer 2023. All awarded contracted are anticipated to begin October 1, 2023.
For more information, visit the New York State Department of Health Solicitation of Interest (SOI) or email [email protected].