Amid ongoing physician shortages in rural America, a health system and its academic medical partner are creating a new twist for two residential programs.
CHI Health and Creighton University School of Medicine announced their combined training programs for internal medicine and psychiatry in November. New physicians aligned with the Nebraska-based programs will spend part of the year. the first of their training in an urban area and will complete the remainder at a rural facility.
Dr Joann Porter, associate dean of graduate medical education at Creighton University in Omaha, said she hopes these opportunities will help address the state’s rural health challenges. Data shows that 90 of Nebraska’s 93 counties have experienced a shortage of clinicians by 2022, according to the Rural Health Information Center.
“There is an urgent need for more providers at these locations,” said Dr Cary Ward, chief medical officer at CHI Health, the Midwest division of the nonprofit CommonSpirit Health. .
Porter said two specialties have been chosen to assist patients who have to travel hours to get to mental health services or basic primary care and who face health disparities. health related to lack of access. According to the Rural Health Information Center, rural patients are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer and stroke than those living in urban areas.
While rural residency programs are popular, leaders say the hybrid approach is new. One final rule, implementing the provisions of the Consolidated Allocation Act of 2021, expanded funding for residency training and allowed for the creation of such combined options.
“This now allows us to have the best of both worlds,” says Porter.
Urban training will take place in Omaha, with a population of 487,000, while rural training will take place at a hospital in Kearney, with a population of less than 34,000.
Both programs are attracting interest and doctors will be selected in March.
“We have more applicants than we have, so we’re excited about that,” says Porter.
Four doctors will be selected each year for the combined internal medicine program, spending 30% of their three-year training in urban areas and 70% working in rural areas. Two residents each year will participate in a combined psychiatry program and spend 40% of their four-year training in urban settings and 60% working in the countryside.
Leaders say they hope the residents will continue to work in rural communities after completing their training in Kearney.
CHI Health and Creighton aim to expand the combined programs offered by adding obstetrics, family medicine, and general surgery over the next two to three years. They also hope to increase the number of residents selected for the programs and, therefore, bring more interest to the state’s rural communities.
“Patients want to stay in these communities when they can, and it would be much better if they could readily reach out to providers,” Ward said.
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