Petaluma Health Center Recruits 14 Bilingual, Bicultural Physicians and Psychiatrists From Mexico Under California's AB 2860/2864 Program

Petaluma Health Center — whose roughly 130 clinicians treat 46,000 patients a year across Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Bolinas, and Point Reyes — has enrolled 14 physicians, psychiatrists, and dentists from Mexico under California's 2024 AB 2860/AB 2864 program, which lets up to 30 physicians and 30 dentists practice at qualified California sites for up to three years (renewable); the program was evaluated by UCSF to ensure care equivalent to U.S.-trained physicians.

Two clinicians have already started (an internal-medicine physician from Chihuahua and a family practitioner from Tijuana); the remaining 12 — including three full-time Spanish-speaking psychiatrists, a rarity in Sonoma and Marin counties — are expected to arrive as early as September or as late as October, most on O-1 visas. 'It's very, very difficult for any health care organization to recruit providers or doctors that are bilingual, but more importantly bicultural,' said Eliot Enriquez, the center's director of government and community relations. 'Finding 14 bicultural, bilingual doctors in one fell swoop, that would take us years to do.'

Working with the offices of Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Petaluma expanded its initial four-slot allocation to 14 — a workforce model other California FQHCs facing bilingual-provider shortages may look to replicate.