"Communities of color and those living in rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to health care''

by: Kelsey Jones

WASHINGTON (WDVM) Virginias U.S Senator Tim Kaine introduced a bill to support medical schools in underserved areas.

According to Kaine the bill will tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician field. The Expanding Medical Education Act will provide grants to colleges and universities to establish medical schools in underserved areas in the Commonwealth, including historically black colleges and universities.

According to Kaine recent data shows that while medical school enrollment is up by 305, the number of students from rural areas entering medicine declined by 28% between 2002 and 2017, with only 4.3% of all incoming medical students coming from rural areas in 2017. Similarly, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students face several barriers to matriculate and graduate from medical school.

Kaine said, Communities of color and those living in rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to health care. Medical students of color and those from rural areas are more likely to practice in the communities theyre from but in many of these places there are limited pathways.

The Expanding Medical Education Act will also..

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Kaine introduces bill that would support medical schools in underserved areas - WDVM 25