About Us

UMEC is a quasi-state agency, presided over by a nine member board appointed by the Governor, to bridge the gap between public/private health care workforce and education interests

Core Responsibilities – Health Care Workforce

• Assess – supply and demand

• Advise/develop policy

• Seek and disburse Graduate Medical Education (GME) funds

• Facilitate training in rural locations

• Manage Utah’s GME demonstration project awarded by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Products

• Partnerships – public/private

• Reports – health care workforce

• Models – workforce and financial

• Program(s) expansion – rural and urban

• Funds management – privately funded programs expansion, Medicaid GME, rural training sites expansion, and Medicare demonstration

Impact/Accomplishments

• Economic

♦ $300,000 annual State appropriation for rural GME training
♦ $3 million annually to expand GME training from public/private partnership
♦ $25 million annually in Medicaid GME funding statewide

• Workforce

♦ Increased the number of interns and residents trained in Utah programs by 37%, about 225 positions, over the past seven years
♦ Increased rural health care workforce and education, including establishment of new rural surgery program; rural family medicine fellowship; and rural rotations in dental, emergency medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pathology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery
♦ Preserved both child and adult psychiatric training program
♦ Received the only national GME demonstration project awarded by CMS

Current Areas of Focus

• Retention of Utah trained heath care workforce

• Facilitate rural training opportunities

• Strengthen public/private partnerships