WHEREAS, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), established in 1972, serves all Federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health care delivery to AI/ANs, as well as upholding the Federal government’s trust responsibility to AI/AN Tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, there exists a maldistribution of physicians practicing in rural areas with approximately one quarter of the country’s population served by only ten percent of the country’s physicians; and

WHEREAS, within Indian Country, thirty per cent of our population live in rural areas including geographically remote areas with an even greater reduced access to physician delivered heath care continuing to exemplify the severe Native healthcare workforce shortage; and

WHEREAS, Teaching Health Centers aim to ensure a viable primary care workforce for medically underserved communities by providing training at federally qualified health centers (FQHCS) and similar sites, which host physicians completing their residency that are more likely to practice medicine in underserved communities, according to research; and