Rural Residency Planning and Development Program - Eligible entity/facility type: Public or private institutions of higher education, as part of a graduate medical education (GME) consortium Program pathways. General Primary Care and High Need Specialty pathway residency AND Maternal Health and Obstetrics pathway residency Residency medical specialties: Family Medicine with Advanced Obstetrical Training Residency format: New rural track program, or RTP (new program accreditation) Sponsoring institution: USA Health, 2451 University Hospital Dr, MSTN 212, Mobile, AL36617-2293 ACGME: 8000100004 Rural target county or counties: Clarke, Washington, Monroe Counties, Alabama Funding amount requested: $750,000 Program sustainability option: Options 1, 2, 4 Projected total number of residents: 4-4-4 Expected ACGME accreditation and first resident matriculation dates: Rural Track, no additional accreditation required. Initial class July 2028 Funding priority points requested: Maternity care (4 Points) HRSA Award in last 5 years: Primary Care Training and Enhancement Grant No. 4 T0BHP30027-05-02 A consortium made up of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, USA Health, the USA Health Family Medicine Residency Program (USAFMRP), Jackson Medical Center, and Physicians Care of Clarke County would like to implement a Rural Track Program (RTP) to train Family Medicine residents in Mobile, Alabama, and Jackson, Alabama. In addition, we would like to use the optional PGY 4 enhanced rural obstetrics program already in place at the University of South Alabama to train physicians desiring rural practice in advanced obstetrics. In doing this we will expand the family medicine residency into rural Alabama, provide enhanced rural and optional obstetrical training, care for underserved populations, increase the likelihood that primary care physicians who are trained in an rural area will continue to provide care to a rural population following the completion of his or her residency training, and improve health outcomes. The program will include 20 – 26 months in rural Alabama. Much of this time will be spent in Jackson, a town of 5000 people although some of it will be in Grove Hill within a rural emergency setting and some in Thomasville in a rural FQHC. In addition, for residents with an interest in FM-OB, six months will also be in Andalusia, Alabama in a rural hospital in Covington County. Upon completion of the 3-year planning project, we will have an implemented curriculum for a new USA Health Family Medicine Residency rural track program that has greater than 50% of the training time in Jackson, Alabama, with an emphasis on competencies needed to provided care in a rural area. We will have a training consortium with an accredited ACGME rural training track, a validated sustainability plan that includes ongoing funding streams to sustain long-term resident training after the program is established, and the ability to track residents for five years following graduation. Leveraging residency resources, we will have a pathway to create a physician workforce that will lead to the return of family medicine obstetrics (FM-OB) to Clarke County, Alabama, a current maternity care desert.
