Increase enrollment of underrepresented minorities in medical school and residency programs. Underrepresented minority physicians play a major role in meeting the health care needs of underrepresented minorities in California, especially those living in low-income communities. Yet, there are far too few underrepresented minority physicians. Moreover, the number of underrepresented minorities in the state, especially Latinos, is increasing more rapidly than the number of non-Latino whites. California's medical schools and residency programs have made progress toward increasing the number of underrepresented minority physicians, but parity with the population is a long way off.
Recent trends are particularly inauspicious.
From 1995 to 1996, enrollment of underrepresented minorities among entering students decreased by 20 percent in U.C. medical schools and by 16 percent in private medical schools. 9 Proposition 209 and the recent decision of the U.C. Regents to end affirmative action, if upheld by the judiciary, threaten recent progress in this area, especially for U.C. medical schools. Establish a mechanism for implementing these recommendations on a statewide basis. At present, the only medical schools and residency programs in California subject to direct public oversight at the state level are U.C. schools and programs. Although the U.C. system educates more medical students and residents than any other institution in California, it is not the only one.