Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program

The purpose of the THCGME Program is to prepare residents to provide high-quality care, particularly in rural and medically underserved communities, while developing the competencies they need to serve a wide range of populations and communities. The THCGME does this by providing funding to support the training of residents in HRSA-supported primary care residency training programs in community-based ambulatory patient care centers.

An eligible entity is a community-based ambulatory patient care center that operates an accredited primary care residency program, individually or through a graduate medical education (GME) consortium. Eligible primary care residency program specialties include the following: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Psychiatry, Geriatrics, General Dentistry, and Pediatric Dentistry. The THCGME Program provides an interim payment rate of $160,000 per resident full-time equivalent (FTE) to increase the number of primary care medical and dental residency position in community-based setting.Through this opportunity, payments will be made to support new resident FTE positions for new programs at eligible community-based ambulatory patient care centers. New Teaching Health Centers (THCs) are those applicants seeking funding for residency programs that have never received payment under the HRSA THCGME Program for the applicable residency program in any previous fiscal year. Under this model, a new THC program could apply to receive an award for its initial class of FTEs under the establishment awards type, and in the future apply for a maintenance award to sustain that number of FTEs and for an expansion award to increase that number of FTEs. As described in 340H(h)(2)(B), all resident FTEs for whom THCGME support is requested must be above the program's resident FTE baseline and must not put the program above the number approved by or awaiting approval by, the relevant accrediting body.Eligible entities include: Federally qualified health centers, as defined in section 1905(l)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1396d(l)(2)(B)]; Community mental health centers, as defined in section 1861(ff)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395x(ff)(3)(B)]; Rural health clinics, as defined in section 1861(aa)(2) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)(2)]; Health centers operated by the Indian Health Service, an Indian tribe or tribal organization, or an urban Indian organization (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act [25 U.S.C. 1603]); An entity receiving funds under Title X of the PHS Act; A community-based GME consortium that operates an accredited primary care residency program.