The City of Yuma plans to distribute $3 million in state funding to Onvida Health under a Mission Support Agreement scheduled to be signed at the City Council’s Jan. 7 meeting.
The agreement states the city will receive a $3 million appropriation from the State of Arizona to be distributed to a nonprofit hospital in Yuma that supports at least 400 beds. The funding was included in the state’s 2025–26 General Appropriations Act.
According to the agreement, the funding is intended to support the development of a regional medical school branch and expand medical education within the city. The document also cites the city’s acute need for health care professionals to serve residents and visitors.
The agreement comes weeks after Onvida Health announced a partnership with the University of Arizona to open the state’s first rural regional medical school branch.
The program is expected to launch in July as a three-year, accelerated medical degree focused on training primary care physicians. Students accepted into the program will complete their first 18 months of coursework in Phoenix, followed by 18 months of clinical training at Onvida Health.
During the program’s first three years, participating students will receive full-tuition scholarships funded by Onvida Health.
The goal of the program is to train physicians in rural medicine and encourage them to remain in rural Arizona to help address the state’s physician shortage.
The city will pass the $3 million on to the hospital in two payments, $1.5 million within 30 days of the agreement taking effect and the remaining $1.5 million within 30 days after the city receives the full funding.
The agreement is expected to be approved at the next Yuma City Council meeting scheduled for Jan. 7 at City Hall chambers starting at 5:30 p.m.
