Rural Residency Planning and Development Program - Eligible Entity Type: Graduate Medical Education Consortium Project Director: Jacob C. Warren, PhD, MBA Residency Program Director: Candace Murbach, DO Residency Specialty & Type: Family Medicine 1-2 RTT Sponsoring Institution: HCA Healthcare/Mercer University School of Medicine Consortium Rural Target Area: Toombs and Montgomery Counties in Georgia Funding Amount Requested: $750,000 Program Sustainability Option: Option 1 – Establishing a Medicare FTE Resident Cap Projected Number of Residents: 6 at full complement (2 per year) Expected ACGME Accreditation Date: April 2023 Expected Residency Matriculation Dates: First entering cohort in July 2024 Mercer University School of Medicine and HCA Healthcare have collaborated closely for many years to establish residency and fellowship training programs in the state of Georgia. In 2019, HCA Healthcare/Mercer University School in Medicine renewed and officiated their academic partnership agreement to better support the mutual pursuit of medical education. As the institutional sponsor of multiple graduate medical education (GME) programs, HCA Healthcare/Mercer University School of Medicine is experienced in assessing the surrounding communities’ healthcare needs and how they can address them. The positive impact of the development of GME programs has been readily witnessed by institutional leadership; thus, it is the ultimate goal of the institution to develop more residency and fellowship programs within its consortium to continue mitigating the physician shortages in the counties they service. The most recent endeavor is the pursuit of the Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Grant Opportunity (HRSA-22-094) funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The RRPD, if awarded, would support HCA Healthcare/Mercer University School of Medicine in the development of a Family Medicine Rural Training Track (FM RTT) in the targeted rural service area of Vidalia, Georgia, to create a sustained pipeline of family medicine physicians into the region. This rural area is sparse in physician availability, health care services, and GME training programs. Its patient populations are suffering from poor health outcomes, barriers to care, and with Georgia having the highest maternal mortality rates of any state in the country, the Vidalia population has not been spared. Driven to combat such negative health disparities in the region and across rural Georgia, an FM RTT will be created with the primary clinical training site at Memorial Health Meadows Hospital (HCA Meadows), located in Vidalia, to bring physicians into rural Georgia and increase access to care. HCA Meadows is a CMS and FORHP rural hospital that has the clinical capability to train residents in family medicine, including enhanced obstetrical care training, in partnership with the program’s urban training site, HCA Memorial Savannah, and the rural FQHC, East Georgia Healthcare Center, to meet ACGME accreditation requirements and provide a robust training experience. Both hospitals and the FQHC possess the necessary clinical capabilities to support residency training, in terms of patient care and procedural volumes, supervisory faculty availability, and appropriate training time in relevant medical specialties and subspecialties. Moreover, East Georgia Healthcare Center (EGHC) will be able to provide each resident with clinical experience to achieve at least 1,650 in-person patient encounters in the FMP site by the time of their graduation. The FM RTT will target the patient populations of Toombs and Montgomery Counties, in which Vidalia falls, with the ultimate goal of retaining residents throughout rural Georgia. Through the RRPD opportunity, HCA Healthcare/Mercer University School of Medicine hope obtain the support needed to expand their reach into this community and beyond through the provision of family medicine training.
