Representatives from the University of New Mexico Office for Community Health, the New Mexico Department of Health School-Based Health Center Program, and Sunrise Clinics told the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee that school-based health centers, a hub-and-spoke model and a "Semillas de Salud" workforce pipeline have expanded access and clinical-rotation opportunities across northern New Mexico.

"Every student in Las Vegas, New Mexico has access to a health career club. Every student in San Miguel County has access to a school-based health center," said Matt Probst, director of rural engagement at the UNM Office for Community Health, describing the local pipeline and prevention-focused activities that feed clinical training opportunities.

Probst said those youth activities are intended to create a funnel of learners: health career clubs, health career classrooms and dual-enrollment Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways that can produce graduates with entry-level credentials (EMT, phlebotomy, community-health worker certificates) and direct access to clinical rotations.

Kristen Oreskovich, clinical operations manager for the DOH School-Based Health Center Program, described workforce shortages that complicate expansion: she cited a Canal (Kresge) Foundation estimate (February 2023) that New Mexico was short roughly 800 primary-care providers, about 250 behavioral-health providers and over 1,000 nurses. Oreskovich said DOH will match learners (nursing, advanced-practice nursing, counseling, social work) to clinical rotations in school-based health centers and can provide small stipends to students in some placements.

Tim Dodge of Sunrise Clinics discussed community-school integration in Santa Rosa, where he said school-based services were used to identify needs and to place certified students into local hospitals and clinics for work. He described an example of a student who had left school and returned to earn a community-health-worker certification and later filled a local vacancy.

Matt Probst and Kristen Oreskovich said school-based health centers bill Medicaid and other payers to sustain services; Probst reported about 56,000 visits in the previous year for roughly 20,000 students through the school-based program and said the number of clinics in recent years expanded from a handful to dozens in the hub-and-spoke rollout. Presenters acknowledged federal and state funding uncertainty and encouraged local collaboration, preceptor incentives and partnerships to house more clinical rotations.

Legislators asked about telehealth, HIPAA/FERPA and summer service availability. Oreskovich and Probst said telehealth equipment is used to connect students and parents with remote clinicians and that some school-based health centers provide year-round services tied to community-school programs. Presenters also said they are coordinating with university partners (including Highlands and UNM) and with AHEC and Project ECHO to scale virtual learning and clinical-rotation capacity.

Presenters urged legislative support for preceptor incentives, sustained funding and cross-jurisdictional collaboration to keep rural clinics and training pathways open amid disaster impacts and federal funding threats.