Despite significant evidence that a diverse, representative health care workforce is pivotal to improving health care access and outcomes, limited progress has been made to increase the number of Black and Latino/x doctors and nurses and to retain them in the workforce.

CHCF commissioned the Urban Institute to conduct a national study of health care pathway programs to examine the persistent barriers and challenges facing aspiring doctors and nurses from systemically and structurally excluded groups. The study draws from interviews and focus groups with dozens of students, professionals, and field leaders. It identifies policies and practices that policymakers, philanthropies, and higher education and health system institutions can take to support underrepresented students and professionals, particularly through the expanded and improved use of pathway programs.

Visit the Urban Institute website to read the full report, as well as three summaries of findings and recommendations for key audiences. Two slide decks focus on findings and implications for California.

This video, produced by CHCF, highlights the stories that two providers, a medical student, and a nursing student tell about the obstacles they have encountered in their training and professions, as well as their ideas for attracting and retaining Black and Latino/x people in medicine and nursing.

About the Authors

The report was authored by the following Urban Institute staff: Kimá Joy Taylor, LesLeigh D. Ford, Eva H. Allen, Faith Mitchell, Matthew Eldridge, and Clara Alvarez Caraveo.