DPH working group to focus on residency pipeline, data and monthly meetings

The Connecticut Department of Public Health convened a physician workforce working group that opened its first meeting by reaffirming a legislative charge to study recruiting, retaining and compensating primary care and behavioral health providers and to recommend ways to increase primary care residency positions in the state.

Malia Allen, facilitator and Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives staff, said the group’s work is intended to produce a report to the commissioner and the General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2026. “Your report will be going to our commissioner as well as to the general assembly. So this is your report. You own the report. It will not have DPH branding,” she said.

The meeting centered on an inventory-and-data approach. Tom St. Louis, workforce development director at the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and members agreed the working group should first compile numbers on…