Understanding health policies and insurance is essential for ensuring patients can access necessary care, minimize financial burdens, and navigate the healthcare system effectively. For healthcare providers, this knowledge supports advocacy, equity, and the delivery of informed, patient-centered care.
Left to right: Dr. Dolores Gomez; Dr. Heather Kovich, and Dr. Laura Chambers-Kersh
Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate culture while also raising awareness of cardiovascular health disparities that disproportionately affect Hispanic and Latino communities. Addressing barriers like limited access to care, language, and social determinants of health is essential to improving outcomes through culturally competent care.
Join our Virtual Open House on Tuesday, August 19 at 5:00 pm MDT to hear from residents and program directors statewide and get your questions answered before Match registration opens. Register now: bit.ly/nmpctc-open-house
The August 2025 edition of the Medical Ethics Newsletter examines reproductive healthcare disparities, exploring how historical inequities, recent policy changes, and systemic barriers continue to shape access and outcomes today.
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Muhammad Khan, Chief Medical Officer and founding Designated Institutional Official at Three Crosses Regional Hospital, to discuss the hospital’s new Internal Medicine Residency. This is New Mexico’s third IM program and will welcome its first residents in July 2025.
On this episode of Puentes, we chat with Dr. Fatima Rodriguez Romay and Dr. Marcus Couldridge, the inaugural graduates of the Shiprock-UNM Family Medicine Residency Program, and Dr. Heather Kovich, Residency Program Director. The trio reflect how this unique program came to life, their experiences navigating the program, and where they’re headed next.
Application period opens July 1
Mental health disparities disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority populations, LGBTQIA+ individuals, immigrants, refugees, rural residents, and people with lower socioeconomic status. Stigma, discrimination, systemic exclusion, financial barriers, and limited access to culturally responsive care can delay treatment and contribute to more severe or persistent mental health conditions. Healthcare professionals can help close these gaps by providing inclusive, trauma-informed care, challenging cultural stigma, understanding patients’ intersecting identities, and connecting them with accessible community-based behavioral health resources.