By Erica Breunlin | Colorado Sun
Gov. Jared Polis and a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers plan to dramatically expand health care education programs at higher education institutions across the state to combat persistent workforce shortages in health care fields, including by creating a new medical college at the University of Northern Colorado that will graduate about 150 medical professionals a year.
Polis joined lawmakers and leaders from higher education schools Monday afternoon at Denver’s Auraria campus to announce plans to boost opportunities for students wanting to pursue careers in health care fields.
Along with a new medical college at UNC in Greeley, the state will build on health care programming at Metro State University in Denver, Colorado State University and Trinidad State College to bolster programming for a variety of health care professions, including nurses, social workers, mental and behavioral health experts and veterinarians. The plans for the programs at the four schools have been in the works for the past three years.