Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $12 million in Affordable Care Act funding to support primary care residency programs in 32 Teaching Health Centers across the nation. Funding will help train more than 300 residents during the 2013-2014 academic year, doubling the number of residents trained in the previous academic year.

Administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Payment Program, created by the Affordable Care Act, expands residency training in community-based settings. Residents will be trained in family and internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and general and pediatric dentistry.

The awards expand the number of states with Teaching Health Centers to 21, from 14 in 2012. Teaching Health Centers are located in a variety of settings, including urban, rural, and Tribal communities, and serve populations such as veterans and their families, minority communities, older adults, children and adolescents.