Federal Grant Award Summary

Lehigh Valley Hospital, Inc. received a $249,085 Project Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Professionals under the Primary Care Training and Enhancement (PCTE) program (CFDA 93.884), effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031. The award supports the development and operation of a Street Medicine Residency Training Track (SMRTT) in collaboration with Valley Health Partners Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center look-alike. The primary deliverable is a comprehensive residency curriculum that prepares family medicine residents from Lehigh Valley Hospital's accredited Department of Family Medicine to deliver high-quality primary care to people experiencing homelessness across the Lehigh Valley region of Eastern Pennsylvania.

The SMRTT curriculum integrates didactic and experiential education components addressing the unique clinical and social challenges of serving unhoused populations. Key training elements include disease management and treatment strategies tailored to the homelessness context, substance use disorder identification and management, appropriate social services referrals, and healthcare delivery models outside traditional hospital and clinic settings. The project team will build educational content and clinical rotations focusing on the environmental and social determinants that influence diagnosis, treatment, and disease management for this vulnerable population, with the goal of addressing the growing healthcare disparities and access barriers faced by unhoused individuals in the region who experience higher rates of chronic conditions, mental health disorders, and substance use issues.