HHS Funds New Rural Residency Programs for Indian Country

A new federal investment is putting physician training directly inside the rural and tribal communities that need it most.

A New Investment in Rural and Tribal Residency Training

On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $11.2 million through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Residency Planning and Development program (RRPD), funding 15 new residency programs across 14 states in family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, and general surgery.

One award funds a new residency program at Little Colorado Medical Center, formerly named Winslow Memorial Hospital, a facility that serves members of the Hopi and Navajo Nations in Winslow, Arizona. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “Where you live should not determine whether you can find a doctor. We are bringing physician training directly into rural and tribal communities.”

Why Where Doctors Train Shapes Where They Stay

The investment answers a documented gap. Only about 2 percent of medical residency training happens in rural areas as of 2026, and physicians tend to practice where they train. A 2026 Health Affairs analysis of more than 20,000 family physicians found 62 percent were still practicing in the state where they completed residency, up from 57 percent a decade earlier. For Indian Country, where the Indian Health Service reported a near 30 percent vacancy rate across its workforce in January 2026, that retention pattern carries real weight.

What This Means for Tribal Health Leaders

Ellsworth’s clinicians currently support IHS and Tribal 638 facilities across Arizona and New Mexico, amid the vacancy strain this funding aims to ease. A residency slot placed inside or near a tribal facility gives a young physician years of direct experience with Native patients, Indigenous health practices, and the daily realities of remote care, experience that keeps clinicians in place after graduation.

Physicians trained near Winslow and the 14 other new residency sites will spend their most formative clinical years alongside Native patients and rural realities, the grounding this funding is designed to build. Ellsworth has watched that grounding matter across Tribal facilities in Arizona and New Mexico for years, and we welcome every new clinician this pathway brings into Indian Country!