BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – A private ceremony was held Thursday night at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace – scheduled prior to the venue’s announced closure – honoring the first class of a new program designed to address Kern County’s physician shortage.

The program is managed by the More in Common Alliance – or MiCA – a partnership created by the Morehouse School of Medicine and CommonSpirit Health, parent company of Dignity Health.

Bakersfield Memorial Hospital President and CEO Ken Keller said the hope is that MiCA graduates stick around after they complete this internal medicine program. Data says they’re likely to stay.

The program was created “with the express intent of growing and developing physicians that are represented by minorities in the markets where Common Spirit Health has h

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