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Issa Fakhouri, MD
Issa Fakhouri, MD Receives 2019 Sidney R. Garfield Exceptional Contribution Award Less than a decade ago, Kaiser Permanente Northern California ranked in the low 100s in the country for diabetes management. But thanks to a program Dr. Issa Fakhouri implemented in the Central Valley and then helped spread throughout the region, K P Northern California now ranks in the top 5.
For Dr. Fakhouri, who grew up in Stockton, diabetes is personal. His grandfather had diabetes and high blood pressure and received sporadic, inconsistent care, which ultimately led to an early death in his mid-50s. When he joined The Permanente Medical Group in 2000, he knew he wanted to make a difference by ensuring patients with diabetes get the very best care.
Dr. Fakhouri f lipped the conventional model of diabetes care management, in which 95% of patients with type 2 diabetes consulted with their primary care physician, and 5% whose blood sugar was not in good control partnered with a chronic condition manager. Under the new structure, patients who found it more difficult to manage their diabetes continued to consult with their primary care physician, and the remaining 95% with type 2 diabetes got help controlling their condition from an accountable care manager (ACM) or physician extender, who is a pharmacist or registered nurse.
“I wanted to disrupt the conventional practice of episodic care—the model in which people get help only when they are sick. We must work further upstream, so that people with diabetes, for instance, receive consistent, proactive care.”
Once the program was successful in the Central Valley, Dr. Fakhouri helped get more than 216,000 patients throughout K P Northern California connected with their local ACM. Today the majority of patients with diabetes have a dedicated pharmacist or nurse who partners with the patient’s personal physician to provide long-term, consistent, and comprehensive care.
“Dr. Fakhouri implemented a program in which all patients, rather than only the sickest ones, get appropriate education and care for their diabetes,” says Sameer Awsare, MD, TPMG associate executive director. “His tremendous passion for and commitment to delivering exceptional and highly efficient care has translated into better outcomes for patients, including fewer heart attacks and strokes.”
Sidney R. Garfield, MD, was the physician founder of Kaiser Permanente and one of the great innovators of 20th century American health care delivery. The Exceptional Contribution Award recognizes TPMG physicians who exemplify Dr. Garfield’s innovative nature. These physicians developed systems and programs that have a significant impact on patients, colleagues, and the broader community.
Daniel Wolcott
Adventist Health now managing Dameron Hospital To expand healthcare choices and access in the Stockton area, Adventist Health began managing Dameron Hospital on January 1, 2020, under an agreement between the nonprofit healthcare organizations.
Dameron, a 202-bed medical center, chose Adventist Health to manage the hospital because the two organizations share a commitment to community and because Adventist Health brings the expertise and resources of a large healthcare system to Stockton.
“Dameron leadership and staff want to do more for their community, and this agreement makes that possible,” said Dameron Hospital Board Chairman Bill Trezza. “Adventist Health has expanded and improved healthcare services in Lodi since joining the community in 2015, and we’re eager to build San Joaquin County healthcare services together. With the many changes and challenges in healthcare, being connected to a system offers many advantages for a freestanding hospital like Dameron.”
Adventist Health is honored to have been selected for this agreement, said Daniel Wolcott, president of Dameron Hospital and Adventist Health Lodi Memorial. “Dameron has a heritage of healthcare excellence, and we look forward to building on that.” During the management period, Adventist Health will work toward a more formal affiliation that would benefit the hospital and community. If that path is taken, the attorney general will be asked to approve Dameron joining Adventist Health.
Roseville-based Adventist Health operates 22 hospitals, more than 280 medical offices, home care services and retirement centers in rural and urban communities in California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii with a workforce of 37,000. Since Lodi Memorial joined the faith-based, nonprofit system, the medical center’s emergency visits have risen by 60% and its inpatient stays by 30%.
Dameron Hospital recognized on 2019 California Patient Safety Honor Roll Dameron Hospital was recognized by the California Health and Human Services Agency, Hospital Quality Institute and Cal Hospital Compare for achieving their 2019 Patient Safety Honor Roll Award. To achieve this 2019 award, Dameron Hospital maintained a high patient safety profile in comparison to other hospitals across a variety of domains including hospital-acquired infections, adverse events, sepsis management, patient experience and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. Honor Roll hospitals had to meet a rigorous threshold by having at least two-thirds of measure results above the 50th percentile and no measure result below the 10th percentile and/or Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade A for the past three reporting periods.
Dameron Hospital was among 77 out of 327 adult, acute care hospitals in California considered for the Honor Roll and is the only hospital in Stockton selected for this list.
This Honor Roll offers Californians a rigorously evaluated list of hospitals that have consistently demonstrated a strong culture of safety across multiple departments and offers hospitals a valuable tool to evaluate and celebrate their own performance in comparison to others.
Adventist Health Lodi Memorial recognized for Straight A’s in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization driven by employers and other purchasers of health care, today announced the fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades and once again awarded Adventist Health Lodi Memorial an ‘A’ for achieving the highest national standards in patient safety. Adventist Health Lodi Memorial is one of only 36 hospitals in the United States to be awarded an ‘A’ every grading cycle since 2012.
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“We are so proud of our physicians, nurses and other clinical staff who are committed to offering excellent quality of care to our patients,” said Dr. Patricia Iris, Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Medical Officer. “To be among this elite group of hospitals for the second time means our hospital is maintaining a high level of excellence for the individuals, families and communities we serve.”
“This outstanding achievement shows longstanding commitment to a culture of safety that puts patients first,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “For Adventist Health Lodi Memorial, saving lives by preventing accidents, injuries, infections and errors is business as usual, and your community should be proud. We commend the staff, faculty, volunteers, leadership and board of directors for their never-ending quest for the highest standards of patient safety.” The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘F’ to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Leapfrog’s grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
Adventist Health Lodi Memorial welcomes surgeon Sukhmine Nedopil, MD Sukhmine Nedopil, MD, has joined the medical staff at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial. She is a general surgeon and provides care to patients with a range of needs, including breast cancer, colon cancer, gastrointestinal conditions, hernia and more.
Nedopil earned her medical degree from the University of
California, Davis; a master’s degree in medical science from the Boston University, School of Medicine; and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her general surgery residency at San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp.
With the goal of pursuing a career where her work would positively impact others, initially Nedopil entered the field of medical research. “It was while performing cancer drug research that I realized practicing medicine would allow me to directly improve the quality of individual lives,” she said. Nedopil and her husband, who also is a physician, have one son and are expecting another. In addition to time with family and friends, she enjoys cooking, crafts and outdoors. She is f luent in English, Punjabi and German.
Nedopil is accepting patients at Adventist Health Physician Network Medical Office - Surgery, located at 999 S. Fairmont Ave., Ste. 100 in Lodi. More information and appointments are available by calling 209-334-8510. Sukhmine Nedopil, MD
Doctors Hospital of Manteca Names Dr. Murali Naidu Chief Executive Officer Doctors Hospital of Manteca has appointed Murali Naidu, MD, FACS, as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Effective Feb. 24, 2020, Dr. Naidu has assumed responsibility for all hospital operations, executive planning and directing medical services.
“Dr. Naidu brings with him a fresh perspective and new energy to enhancing and expanding our healthcare delivery,” said Warren Kirk, CEO of Tenet’s Northern California Group. “We value his strong commitment to providing the highest level of quality care to our patients in the Manteca community and surrounding areas.”
Dr. Naidu joins Doctors Hospital of Manteca from Managed Care Systems out of Bakersfield, Calif., where he serves as the chief physician executive. He played a pivotal role in supporting the on-boarding of 140,000 members and 750 physicians. He previously served as System Chief Clinical Officer at Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, Va., and as Vice President of Perioperative Care for Dignity Health’s 39 hospitals.
Dr. Naidu earned his A.B. in Molecular & Cell Biology
from the University of California, Berkeley and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. He is a laparoscopic surgeon who practiced for more than ten years prior to his full-time leadership roles. He has served on the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics Advisory Board in Los Angeles, and the Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness at the National Murali Naidu, MD
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Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, D.C. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Blue Skies for Children, a nonprofit childcare education center in Oakland that is committed to providing high-quality support to children and their families.
St. Joseph’s Medical Center Recognizes Dr. Richard Waters and Dr. Benjamin Wiederhold as Physician Champions Each year St. Joseph’s Medical Center’s medical staff physicians are called upon to nominate their deserving peers to be recognized as part of St. Joseph’s annual Physician Champion Awards. The awards recognize a “Champion of Community,” described as a physician who has demonstrated a commitment to improving the health status of the community, and a “Champion of Quality,” a physician who continuously pursues quality improvement through innovation.
This year’s awardees are Richard Waters, M.D. for Physician Champion of Quality and Benjamin Wiederhold, M.D. for Physician Champion of Community.
Dr. Richard Waters has been a member of the St. Joseph’s Medical Center Medical Staff since 2005. He has contributed to the quality of care for patients at the Medical Center in innumerable ways through his work as an interventional cardiologist and structural heart specialist, and served as Chairman of the Cardiovascular Department Quality Committee, Chairman of the Cardiovascular Department, and one of the Medical Directors of the Structural Heart Program.
Dr. Benjamin Wiederhold is an Emergency Medicine specialist and has been a member of the St. Joseph’s Medical Center Medical Staff since 2011. Through his leadership of the Emergency Department he has profoundly impacted the health of our community, championing numerous initiatives that have increased access to care, leading the development of Graduate Medical Educational programs in the Medical Center, and enabling quality programs that have touched the lives of the most vulnerable members of our community. Richard Waters, MD Benjamin Wiederhold, MD
San Joaquin General Hospital Announces Its Third Annual Research Day June 5th 2020 San Joaquin General Hospital welcomes local physicians and all associated medical community members to attend its third annual Research Day on June 5th on the Hospital campus in French Camp. The event will begin at 7:30 AM and will run through 1:00 PM. Research Day 2020 is a production of San Joaquin General Hospital’s Graduate Medical Education division. The Hospital’s residency programs include board certification training in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and General Surgery.
This annual event showcases the Hospital’s medical residents and their individual research projects. The event will feature distinguished regional medical speakers. This year, the event will also include other regional medical residency programs in the aim of building a consortium of working local partnerships in medical research and advancing clinical science in San Joaquin County.
Research Day will also highlight San Joaquin General Hospital as a growing research facility and thriving academic hospital. This annual program is a perfect platform for physicians, directors, professors and medical residents to interact in a spirit of partnership that allows for an open exchange of conversations regarding all phases of medical research, practice and medical law.
Attendees are also welcome to tour the San Joaquin General Hospital medical campus to get acquainted with the Hospital’s technology, specialty medical staff and hospital facilities at their professional disposal. To RSVPas well asreceive more information contact Dennis Bashaw, MLIS (209) 468-6642 or email dbbashaw@sjgh.org
St. Joseph’s Awards $370K in Community Grants Dignity Health - St. Joseph’s Medical Center has awarded $372,594 in grant funding to seven local community-based organizations seeking to provide health and human services to residents most in need in San Joaquin County. Grants were awarded to organizations and projects working to address underlying causes of illness, such as lack of access to primary and preventive care, obesity/diabetes, substance use, access to housing, mental health, as well as violence prevention and youth growth & development.
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• Be age 55 or older • Reside in San Joaquin or Stanislaus counties (zip codes are listed at stocktonpace.com) • Be certified by the State as eligible for nursing facility level of care • Be able to live safely at home and in the community with PACE services without jeopardizing health and safety of themselves and others To qualify for Stockton PACE enrollees must meet all of the following:
582 E. Harding Way • University Park • Stockton, CA 95204 209-442-6077 • StocktonPace.com
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Seven projects were awarded funding this year, with each grant recipient working in partnership with other community organizations. Projects include Community Health Connectors, Mentoring for Higher Education, the Mobile Child Care Farmer’s Market, Igniting Health and Opportunity Program for youth, the Families Connect Project, Hope Family Shelter’s Project Hope, and Peer Recovery Coaches.
The Community Grants Program was established in 1990 to provide funding to community-based organizations that provide services to individuals in need. Since its inception, the program has distributed over $3.4 million in grant funding to deserving nonprofit community benefit organizations with an interest in building healthier communities by improving health and living conditions. St. Joseph’s Medical Center annually sets aside revenues from operations to fund the community grant awards. St. Joseph’s Heart & Vascular Institute Performs 200th TAVR Procedure The transcather aortic valve replacement (TAVR) team at St. Joseph’s Heart & Vascular Institute is proud to have reached a major milestone, recently completing their 200th TAVR procedure, bringing new hope and changing the lives of 200 patients who were suffering from aortic valve stenosis. “St. Joseph’s has a long legacy of excellence in cardiac services,” said Don Wiley, Hospital President and CEO. “Right here at St. Joseph’s, our community has a high volume, high quality cardiac surgery program with a strong track record and a history of ‘firsts’ in advancements.”
TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure that treats aortic stenosis without requiring open chest surgery. TAVR uses a catheter to replace the heart valve instead of opening up the chest and completely removing the diseased valve. The valve used during TAVR is inserted within the diseased aortic valve. Patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team at St. Joseph’s Valve Clinic, which specializes in treating patients with various stages of heart disease, from advanced procedures including TAVR, to disease management. Once a patient is referred to St. Joseph’s Valve Clinic a team of experienced physicians and staff develop a personalized plan of care. To learn more about St. Joseph’s TAVR program, visit StJosephsCares.org/TAVR. The transcather aortic valve replacement (TAVR) team
St. Joseph’s Offers New Technology for Heart Patients St. Joseph’s Heart & Vascular Institute is now offering a procedure called TransCarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) to treat patients with carotid artery disease who are at risk for traditional open surgery. Like carotid endarterectomy, the TCAR procedure involves direct access to the carotid artery, but through a much smaller incision at the neckline just above the clavicle instead of a longer incision on the neck. During the TCAR procedure, a tube inserted into the carotid artery is connected to a system that temporarily directs blood f low away from the brain to protect against dangerous debris from reaching the brain during the procedure. Surgeons then filter the blood before returning it to a vein in the groin, and a stent is implanted directly into the carotid artery to stabilize the plaque and prevent future strokes.
Additionally, St. Joseph’s now offers the WATCHMAN, a left atrial appendage occluder device which reduces the risk of stroke from non-valvular atrial fibrillation. This is the only FDA approved implant to reduce the risk of stroke in people with afib who are not candidates for medical treatment with the anti-coagulant warfarin. WATCHMAN is a permanent implant designed to close the left atrial appendage. Since 90% of stroke causing clots that come from the heart are formed in the left atrial appendage, closing the LA A is an effective way to reduce stroke risk.
To learn more about WATCHMAN OR TCAR, please call St. Joseph’s Heart Patient Navigator at 209.467.6540.
Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in Modesto and Manteca Receive Top Patient Safety Score The Leapfrog Group presented Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Modesto and Manteca the top score of “A” in its biannual safety report, which examined and graded more than 2,600 hospitals throughout the United States.
“High-quality medical care and patient safety are our focus and commitment at Kaiser Permanente,” said Area Quality Leader for the Central Valley, Jerry Grandon. “Our emphasis on infection control, adherence to the safest surgical standards, and the personal attention our highly trained physicians and staff show to each of our members makes our hospitals among the safest in the nation.”
In all, 23 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in California received “A” grades from Leapfrog. The 10 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California include Fresno, Manteca, Modesto, Redwood City, Roseville, Sacramento, Santa Clara, South Sacramento, South San Francisco, and Vallejo.
“We are proud to be recognized for providing safe patient care to our members in the Central Valley,” added Grandon. “This recognition ref lects on our commitment to putting safety first.”
Only 750 of 2,600 hospitals surveyed in the U.S. received an “A” rating in the biannual report which began in 2012.
NEW Provider Incentive Program from Health Plan of San Joaquin HPSJ is in the process of rolling out its 2020 Provider Incentive Program for Quality Preventative Care. This unique program will pay providers an incentive for Health Care Effectiveness Data Information Set (HEDIS) and Managed Care Accountability Sets (MCAS), with emphasis on preventive quality measures performed in the primary care office setting. To participate in this new HPSJ incentive program, providers must have a minimum enrollment average of 500 HPSJ members per provider and be open to new membership assignment, among additional qualifiers. To avoid duplication with other incentive reimbursements, OBGYNs and PCPs have an opportunity to receive incentives through the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Value Based Payment Program for select measures and these are not included in the new HPSJ physician incentive program. For more details, including more on how to participate, please go to https://www.hpsj.com/planscan/ for the Winter 2020 cover story in the HPSJ’s PlanScan quarterly. PlanScan also features the article: What Prop 56 Means for Your Practice – Value Based Payment Program Details and will be of interest to OBGYNs and PCPs.
e-Compliance Tool Kit available on Health Plan of San Joaquin website To help busy members of the HPSJ Provider Network meet several annual training requirements, HPSJ has created the following online pieces.
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Annual Cultural Sensitivity Training and Attestation This training is mandated for all Medi-Cal providers. HPSJ offers the approved training via their website, along with a required attestation form. Providers are required to attest to receipt of the training materials, confirm the materials have been reviewed, and acknowledge they have taken part in the training. The following subjects are covered in the online training: • Quality Healthcare for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people • A Physician’s Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care • Cultural Competency Training for Healthcare Providers: Connecting with your patients • Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity in Women’s Health Care To schedule a training or receive more information, contact HPSJ’s Provider Services at 209-942-6340, or go to https://hpsj4.wpengine.com/cultural-competency-training/.
Annual Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (FWA) Training & Attestation Medi-Cal providers are required to either complete the FWA training offered on the HPSJ website and send HPSJ a signed attestation, or attest that they have completed another, acceptable FWA training. The HPSJ online training is available at www.hpsj.com/fraud-waste-and-abuse-prevention-training.
Palliative Care Options Program: Health Plan of San Joaquin Invites Providers Local providers increasingly are turning to HPSJ’s innovative Adult and Pediatric Care Services for Palliative Care Options. For HPSJ members, Palliative Services provide compassionate care, education, support, and practical assistance to patients and families facing the chronic or life-limiting diagnoses of end-stage Congestive Heart Failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Advanced Cancer, and andstage Liver Disease. HPSJ Providers are invited to call or fax their referral into HPSJ’s Palliative Care partner – in San Joaquin County: Pacific Palliative Care (209-922-0263, fax/209-922-0321).
Are Diabetic Shoes Right for Your Patients? Proper fitting shoes are very important for diabetic patients. Anyone with diabetic neuropathy, poor circulation, or nerve damage can benefit from diabetic footwear.
Did you know that Medicare covers the cost of one pair of shoes and three pairs of inserts per calendar year? Shoe specialists are able to carefully evaluate and measure your patients’ feet to provide them with a professionally fitted shoe that is right for them.
There is no paperwork for you to worry about; we take care of all of it! For more information or consultation appointment, please contact Odessa Mosley, your Diabetic Shoe Specialist at (209) 476-8099.
Calling All Mentors!
Do you worry about who will take care of your patients when you retire? Are you looking for a meaningful way to give back to your community? If so, look no further! SJMS is currently recruiting volunteer mentors to join our Bridge to Medicine (BTM) committee. BTM guides high achieving students (high school & college) along their academic journey so that they have the best chance of being accepted to medical school and ultimately, return to practice in our community.
The committee meets every other month and consists of physicians (working & retired), alliance members and even a local college professor. Most importantly, you don’t need to be an expert! We have committee members with a wide array of skill sets and resources, so you are never alone. For more information please contact Lisa Richmond at 952-5299 or Lisa@sjcms.org.
30 SAN JOAQUIN PHYSICIAN SPRING 2020 Curing the San Joaquin Valley’s SHORTAGE DOCTOR
CalMedForce helps grow local residency programs
By Jo Ann Kirby
Grants from new state tobacco tax revenues are pumping critical dollars into Graduate Medical Education programs in San Joaquin County to address a dire physician shortage in an already underserved community.
St. Joseph’s Medical Center and San Joaquin General Hospital were awarded CalMedForce grants in January with S.J. General’s decades-old residency program receiving an injection of $450,000, while St. Joseph’s newer program was given $2.7 million. “It costs about $150,000 per resident per year to support a resident,” Lupe Alonzo-Diaz, chief executive officer of Physicians for a Healthy California, which administers the CalMedForce grants, said. “So, these grants have allowed some GME programs to either keep their programs and or expand their programs and thereby increase the number of physicians trained in underserved areas.” Residency programs have been unable to keep up with the demand for slots, in part due to inadequate funding. A Medicare support cap for GME imposed by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 gives new teaching hospitals just five years to establish their ceiling on their number of residency positions, specifically the cap is set at the number of residents at the institution five years after the first resident begins to work there. The result is that programs have tended to piece-meal their resources in order to fund the average $150,000 per resident year that it takes, Alonzo-Diaz said. S.J. General’s cap has long since been set but St. Joseph’s is a couple of years away from the five-year mark. “We are currently training 69 residents,” said Dr. Sheela Kapre, who serves as Chief Medical Officer and chair of Graduate “ It costs about $150,000 per resident per year to support a resident. So, these grants have allowed some GME programs to either keep their programs and or expand their programs and thereby increase the number of physicians trained in underserved areas.” - LUPE ALONZO-DIAZ
Medical Education at San Joaquin County General Hospital, said. However, Kapre said S.J. General’s Medicare support cap is 41.14 full time equivalents, so anything over the cap has come from institutional funds. But now, Cal Med Force is a new source of dollars. This year’s $450,000 grant is funding three new preliminary residency slots in internal and family medicine at the county.
“Expansion of the residency programs has been difficult without availability of additional funding. The funding from the CalMedForce grants has been of tremendous assistance,” Kapre said.
A critical physician shortage in the Central Valley, where scores of people live in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas, is already felt in San Joaquin County. In addition to a lack of newly-minted primary care physicians, a third of doctors in California are over the age of 55 and looking to retire soon, according to a study by the Healthforce Center at UC-San Francisco. Factor in an aging population and an increase in the number of Californians who have health care coverage, and there is a looming emergency.
The UCSF study, California’s Primary Care Workforce: Forecasted Supply, Demand, and Pipeline of Trainees, 2016- 2030, found the underserved Central Valley will have the worst shortages in the next decade as the region is expected to have higher rates of growth in demand for primary care clinicians than California overall.
The federal government’s Council on Graduate Medical Education recommends 60 to 80 primary care doctors per 100,000 people. But in the San Joaquin Valley, that number is already down to 39, according to The Future Health Workforce Commission.
“The Central Valley continues to struggle with recruiting and retaining physicians to this area,” Donald Wiley, CEO of St. Joseph’s, said. “We specifically are focused on residency candidates who were raised in and have strong ties to California.”
A lack of funding for residency programs causes California to lose its medical students when they are forced to search for
available residency slots in other states. But nationwide, 54.2 percent of individuals who completed residency training from 2008-2017 are practicing in the state where they trained. That percentage is even higher for California. “The impact of physician shortages on communities in San Joaquin County is profound,” Dr. Scott Neeley, vice president and chief medical officer of St. Joseph’s Medical Center, said. “In some instances, patients defer care or do not have access to health care, while in others the lack of access to medical specialist forces people to travel great distances for care.” At St. Joseph’s, the residency program is set to welcome its third class of nine emergency medicine residents this year for a total of 27 residents in that program. In addition, they will host their third class of six family medicine residents, for a total of 18 in that program. St. Joseph’s will also have their first ten internal medicine residents and their first 10 transitional year residents. Dr. Kapre cites several success stories to retaining graduates of San Joaquin General’s residency program. “The current chief medical officers, the chair of the internal medicine department, the program director of the internal medicine residency program and all the teaching hospitalists graduated from the Internal Medicine residency program at SJGH,” she said. “In addition, our rheumatologist and critical care pulmonary specialist graduated from the Internal Medicine residency at SJGH before entering their respective fellowships. They both returned to become full time faculty.” San Joaquin General has a longstanding commitment to GME and has trained physicians since 1932, Dr. Kapre said, noting that approximately 45% of SJGH’s residents in the three residency training programs have stayed and are practicing in the area. New residency programs are a huge economic investment, Wiley said of St. Joseph’s program. But one, he knows will pay off. Establishing the program required a multi-million dollar investment in people as well as facilities and equipment. “The CalMedForce grant has strengthened our confidence in starting these primary care residencies, especially given the uncertain economic climate in health care,”Willey said. CalMedForce, funded by Prop. 56, awarded $38 million in its inaugural 2019 cycle and another $40 million in 2020 for graduate medical education programs in California. In its inaugural cycle, CalMedForce received funding requests for nearly 600 residency positions from 131 residency programs totaling more than $147 million. The funding it ultimately awarded in 2019 represents 156 residency slots in programs across the state, 80 are existing residency slots that might have been cut and the others were newly created placements. As a perfect storm of an aging population, a surge in the number of Californians with health coverage, a dire physician shortage and the lack of residency slots converge, the Prop. 56 funding is California’s attempt to triage what could be a dire problem by 2025 when the UCSF study forecast that the primary care clinician shortages would require an extra 4,700 primary care clinicians plus another 4,100 in 2030 to meet demand. In addition, California has also created the CalHealthCares loan repayment program for practicing physicians and residents to use toward student loan forgiveness. Eligible physicians and dentists may apply for up to $300,000 in loan repayments. “ The impact of physician shortages on communities in San Joaquin County is profound. In some instances, patients defer care or do not have access to health care, while in others the lack of access to medical specialist forces people to travel great distances for care.” - DR. SCOTT NEELEY
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Strong community partnerships lead to happier, healthier people.
With nearly 335,000 members, Health Plan of San Joaquin continuously works to improve the health of our community by partnering with providers, resource agencies and local businesses to deliver on our mission.
Call us or visit our website to find out how to become a part of our network of physicians and specialists who love serving our community as much as we do!
You had us at hello.
After 120 years, allow us to reintroduce ourselves.
If these walls could talk, they would tell tales of humble beginnings, when in 1899 the physicians in this community advocated for Father William O’Connor to build a hospital in addition to a care home. Or perhaps they’d share the stories of thousands of lives that have been touched since the doors opened more than a century ago.
Through the years, St. Joseph’s Medical Center has grown as our community has grown, continuing to serve the needs of all, while staying true to its roots. The hospital is located where it has always been—on North California Street—ready to serve all who enter its doors seeking healing.
