This week is Match Week, when thousands of graduating medical students find out where they will continue their training as residents. On Match Day, Friday, March 18, hundreds of California students will learn whether they can stay and practice in California – or if they must leave the state for residency.

The National Resident Matching Program results come after graduating medical students have applied for the residency programs of their choice. Both the students and residency programs rank their preferences, with the results announced on the third Friday in March.

The California Medical Association (CMA) wants to hear from the medical students of California as you find out where you’ll be completing your training. Whatever your specialty and wherever you end up, we’d love to see a Tweet or Facebook post with a photo or video, using the hashtags #MatchDay2022 or #MatchedinCA. Make sure to tag @cmadocs so we can share and celebrate your accomplishments!

“This year's graduating medical students received their education during some of the most tumultuous times in health care in recent history,” said CMA President Robert E. Wailes, M.D. “While we know their path forward won't be easy, they have shown the resiliency to push forward through difficult circumstances. CMA welcomes our newest crop of resident physicians and congratulates all this year's Match participants." 

Because of funding constraints, California – where significant areas of the state already face physician shortages, especially in primary care – lacks enough primary care residency opportunities for graduating medical students. This means that scores of well-qualified new physicians who would like to train here instead must leave the state because there are not enough training positions to accommodate them.

The California Future Health Workforce Commission estimated that California will need 4,700 additional primary care clinicians by 2025 and approximately 4,100 more by 2030 to meet demand. CMA’s foundation—Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC)—in partnership with the University of California, established the CalMedForce grant program to help address California’s looming physician shortage by supporting the residency programs where medical school graduates must continue training to obtain a medical license and care for patients independently.

To date, PHC has awarded more than $150 million in CalMedForce grants across the state to support medical training and residency programs and help grow the physician workforce. 

CalMedForce is funded by the voter-approved Proposition 56 tobacco tax of 2016 and administered by PHC, and supports hundreds of residency positions across the state, with an emphasis on those serving medically underserved groups and communities.