Kaiser Permanente gives UCLA Hispanic physician recruitment program $2 million

Kaiser Permanente is giving the University of California-Los Angeles a $2 million grant to fund a program that recruits foreign-trained doctors to practice in U.S. Hispanic neighborhoods, United Press International reports.

The International Medical Graduate Program will help Latin American medical school graduates pass U.S. licensing exams. The students will work in family medicine residency programs in California, according to Kaiser Permanente.

The goal is to increase the number of doctors in underserved, Spanish-speaking communities in California. According to Patrick Dowling, chair of the UCLA Department of Family Medicine, California will face a shortage of up to 17,000 physicians by 2015.

Dowling said about 2,500 physicians who were trained in Latin America are legal residents in California but cannot practice medicine in the U.S. The program is "committed to helping these skilled individuals navigate the road to licensure," Dowling said (United Press International, 5/5).

Please note: The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.