Rural Residency Planning and Development Program - Eligible Entity/Facility Type: Rural Hospital Project Director (PD) Name & Contact Information: Kevin Browning (256-894-6723; kevin.browning@mmcenters.com) Residency Program Director Name & Contact Information: N/A Program Pathway: General Primary Care and High Need Specialty Pathway Residency Residency Specialty: Family Medicine Residency Format: Rural residency program (non-RTP) Sponsoring Institution Name, Location, and ACGME Sponsor Program Code: University of Alabama Hospital (010498) Location: 619 S 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35249-6505 Rural target county or counties: Marshall County, DeKalb County, and Etowah County Funding Amount Requested: $750,000 Program Sustainability Option: Option 1: Hospital “new” residency program; Option 3: Establishing a Medicare FTE resident cap; Option 6B: Private funding Projected Total Number of Residents: 18 (6 per year) Expected ACGME Accreditation Dates: April 30, 2027 Expected ACGME Residency Matriculation Dates: July 1, 2028 Funding Priority Points Requested: N/A List of Recent HRSA Awards received: HRSA Provider Relief Funding – Rural Funding and General Distribution (CFDA: 93.498) and HRSA COVID-19 Claims Reimbursement for the Uninsured Program (CFDA: 93.461) Marshall Medical Centers (MMC) is proposing to develop an 18-person Family Medicine Residency Program (FMRP) in partnership with Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children (Huntsville Hospital) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). UAB will serve as the sponsoring institution, with Marshall Medical Center South (MMC South) as the primary training site and additional rotations will occur at Marshall Medical Center North (MMC North), Huntsville Hospital, and UAB. UAB has a strong record in sponsoring residency programs, overseeing more than 100 ACGME-accredited programs, and successfully training thousands of physicians who contribute to healthcare across Alabama. Having partnerships with UAB and Huntsville Hospital will allow the residents to not only meet their rotational requirements but also seeing and treating a more diverse group of patients. MMC is composed of two hospitals with a consolidated provider number, MMC South and MMC North, both located in Marshall County. 70% of MMC’s patient population comes from Marshall County and an additional 18% comes from their surrounding counties DeKalb and Etowah. Our FMRP aims to increase the primary care workforce in our rural Alabama service area, many counties of which are designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in primary care and mental health. Alabama faces a significant shortage of primary care physicians, ranking 44th nationally in healthcare. Marshall County experiences an even greater disparity, with a physician-to-population ratio of 1,820:1. Establishing a FMRP will help train and retain physicians to serve these underserved communities in Alabama. The participating sites for the program will be MMC South (the primary site), MMC North (for Behavioral Health experiences), UAB (for Dermatology), and Huntsville Hospital (for Inpatient Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine Pediatrics). Even with these participating sites covering these experiences, it is anticipated that MMC South will train 85% of the program. MMC South is a rural site and thus the program will train more than 50% in a rural site. By training in a rural environment, residents develop the skills necessary for independent, community-based practice. With these collaborative efforts, we are well-positioned to support the required ACGME patient volumes as well as the completion of the required HRSA milestones. We are confident that MMC and our program partners will be able to meet the required milestones of program development/application, recruitment, program sustainability, and graduate tracking. MMC is anticipating a program start of July 1, 2028.
