Sunday, May 18, 2025
5/18/2025
Rural Residency Planning and Development Program - Eligible Entity Type: Rural Hospital Project Director and Residency Director Contact Information: Dr. Collins Rainey, (901) 226-0649; collins.rainey@bmhcc.org Residency Specialty & Type: Family Medicine 1-2 RTT Sponsoring Institution: Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union City Rural Target Areas: 5 counties located in northwest Tennessee: Obion, Dyer, Gibson, Lake and Weakley; 2 counties located in southwest Kentucky: Fulton and Hickman Federal Amount Requested: $749,583.00 Program Sustainability Option: Option 1 – Establishing a Medicare FTE Resident Cap Projected Number of Residents: 6 residents at maturity Expected ACGME Accreditation Date: October 2022 Expected Residency Matriculation Date: June 2023 This project will establish a new Family Medicine residency program at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union City in northwest Tennessee. Union City provides quality health care to seven rural counties: five counties in Tennessee – Obion, Dyer, Gibson, Lake and Weakley; and two counties in Kentucky – Fulton and Hickman. All seven counties served by BMH-Union City are designated rural and as HRSA rural medically underserved areas with a high rate of poverty and minority residents. The need for substantially more physicians in Tennessee and Kentucky is critical. The training of Family Medicine residents, with the subsequent graduation of Board-Eligible Family Medicine physicians who are familiar with our region, will improve access to well-trained primary and specialty care physicians. These physicians will provide quality health care in communities identified by HRSA as “At Risk” and “Distressed.” According to research performed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC/www.aamc.org), Tennessee is currently 34th in physician to population ratio in overall physicians, internal medicine physicians and primary care physicians, with only 85 primary care physicians per 100,000 population. Kentucky is 43rd, with only 77 primary care physicians per 100,000 population. It is imperative that we increase the number of family medicine physicians in this seven county area of Tennessee and Kentucky so that we can appropriately provide quality health care to the population of this underserved region. Once established, this program will be a three-year family medicine residency training program located in Union City, TN, an area that currently does not provide residency training options for newly graduated physicians. The program will train two residents at each level and at maturity will have six residents in training with a production of ten board eligible family medicine specialists annually. The program’s goal is that a minimum of 75% of these graduates will practice as Family Medicine physicians in this seven-county area upon graduation from our residency. To begin an accredited Family Medicine Residency, BMH-Union City and Baptist Memorial Medical Education will utilize the current Academic and ACGME infrastructure that has established Family Medicine and Family Medicine Residency programs at five other hospitals in the Baptist system. Once accreditation is approved in Spring 2023, program faculty and staff will begin the recruiting process, resulting in matriculation of the first class of residents on July 1, 2024.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).