Coalition of Healthcare Professionals Has Been Assembled to Improve Healthcare Access for Far Northern California Counties

Dr. Paul Dhanuka reported to Shasta Unfiltered that things are going pretty well with the process of making plans to improve healthcare access for Shasta County residents and surrounding counties.  The Coalition Committee, named “Coalition for the Exploration of Rural Northern California Medical Education” has been meeting monthly.  Dr. Norm Hall, Simpson University President, has been named Chairman of the group and Dr. Dhanuka is Vice-Chairman.  Other members are:  Christy Coleman, Health and Human Services Agency Director for Shasta County; Gretchen Melburg, MSN, MBA, FNP-BC; Irene Salter, PhD, Neuroscientist, Writer, and Leadership Coach; Harpartap Sandhu, MD, Emergency Medicine, Enloe Health; Todd Smith, President and CEO, Mercy Medical Center; Robin Schurig, Executive Director, Health Alliance of Northern California (HANC), and Paul Wang, MD, Regional Director Anesthesia Line at Vituity.

Dhanuka explained to Shasta Unfiltered that there is a deficit of medical schools and residency spots in California.  California is ranked as 42 out of the 50 States as far as numbers of medical students per 100,000 population.  There are absolutely no medical schools north or east of Sacramento.  Most of the medical schools in the United States are located in the East and Midwest.  The Coalition is working on both short-term and long-term solutions to the problems in our general area that will encompass a comprehensive plan for the region. 

In September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (headed by Dr. Mehmet Oz) put out a Notice of Funding Opportunity that would make all 50 states eligible to apply for $50 Billion dollars that has been set aside for improvements in rural health access for under served areas.  Each state could be eligible for up to $1 billion to be awarded yearly for five years, which comes to $100 million to $200 million per year for the entire state.  The application deadline is November 5^th and the award decisions will be made by the end of this year.  The California Department of Healthcare Access and Information (HCAI) will be applying for the grant and so far, approximately 350 stakeholders have contacted HCAI to voice their needs.  The input from Shasta County has been coordinated by the Coalition and they have spoken to HCAI and sent a letter outlining their goal of creating a locally based medical education pipeline that will anchor both undergraduate and graduate medical training in California’s rural North State. 

On October 2, 2025, the Coalition sent a letter to California’s Secretary of Human Healthcare and Services Agency, Kim Johnson.  Here is an excerpt from the letter:

Throughout the 17 far northern counties of California, communities consistently rank among the lowest in health outcomes statewide. The region faces profound challenges in healthcare access, driven largely by a critical shortage of physicians and advanced practice providers. This crisis was recently underscored by the public health crisis declared by Dr. James Mu, Shasta County Public Health Officer, citing the "severe lack of doctors available to serve what is known as the most economically stressed six counties in the state."

In response, regional partners have launched a collaborative effort to develop a Rural Northern California Medical School, complemented by new medical residencies and fellowships that will emphasize recruiting and training students with deep roots in the region—those most likely to remain and serve in our communities after completing their training. Additionally, this health sciences university will also serve to educate and train the wide spectrum of other healthcare and mental health professionals much needed for a comprehensive solution to rural healthcare access.

Simpson University, a fully accredited university located in Redding, has been invited to help

lead this effort in partnership with healthcare, civic, and community leaders. With more than a

century of service to the North State and an expanding portfolio of programs in nursing,

psychology, kinesiology, and the pre-health sciences, Simpson University is well-positioned to

serve as the academic home for this transformative initiative.

Our coalition includes representatives from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, Redding City Council Members, Shasta Health Assessment and Redesign Collaborative, Northern Valley Medical Association, and numerous other community and healthcare partners, all of whom have expressed strong support for establishing a locally based medical education pipeline that will anchor both undergraduate and graduate medical training in California's rural North State. We respectfully request that HCAI include within its federal funding proposal the concept of an integrated college-medical school-medical residency/fellowship model, rooted in the far north of California, one of the most medically under served regions of the state. This model represents a bold, sustainable, and collaborative strategy for rebuilding the rural physician workforce while improving health outcomes for generations to come. This effort will also spur the economic development, innovation, and job growth for the far northern region of California. The Coalition leadership would welcome the opportunity to discuss this concept further.

The Coalition also plans to contact the State’s Economic Development Department because one of their goals is to create an economic engine here. Florida State University (FSU) created a College of Medicine in 2010. 10 years later it commissioned a study on the economic impact of the dollars invested in the new program.  The annual return on investment (total benefits divided by funds invested) amounted to over 410 percent, exclusively in terms of economic benefit. 

Simpson University has a very highly-ranked nursing program and the group is exploring ways to create a nurse practitioner program there as well.