Rural Residency Planning and Development Program - Facility Type: GME Consortium Program Pathway: High Need Specialty Residency Pathway: New Rural Track Program (new program accreditation) Sponsoring Institution: Western Reserve Health Education, Inc. Rural target county: Mercer County Pennsylvania Funding amount requested: $750,000.00 Total Number of residents: 10 - 15 Expected ACGME accreditation: Spring 2027 First Matriculation date: July 1, 2028 Project Abstract: The Western Reserve Health Education (WRHE) Rural General Surgery Residency Development Project will establish a new ACGME-accredited Rural General Surgery Residency Program at Sharon Regional Health System (SRHS) in Sharon, Pennsylvania, to address surgical workforce shortages and expand access to high-quality surgical care across Mercer County and the surrounding Appalachian region. Mercer County is a predominantly rural area with multiple federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas, an aging population, high rates of chronic disease, socioeconomic barriers to care, and limited access to specialty surgical services. These factors contribute to delayed diagnoses, increased emergency presentations, preventable complications, and poorer health outcomes. The project’s target population includes approximately 110,000 residents of Mercer County and neighboring Appalachian communities, particularly older adults, low-income individuals, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and other underserved populations. The program will strengthen the healthcare workforce while improving access to comprehensive surgical care. WRHE will serve as the Sponsoring Institution, leveraging its graduate medical education infrastructure, administrative capacity, and residency development experience. SRHS will function as the primary training site, supported by regional hospitals, specialty providers, outpatient clinics, and emergency departments. These partnerships will provide residents with broad exposure to rural general surgery, trauma and emergency surgery, minimally invasive procedures, endoscopy, perioperative care, and care coordination across multiple settings. The project’s goal is to create a sustainable pipeline of rural-trained general surgeons prepared to serve underserved communities. During the three-year project period, WRHE will recruit faculty, develop an ACGME-compliant curriculum, establish competency-based assessment systems, secure accreditation, and enroll the inaugural resident cohort. Key objectives include: (1) obtaining ACGME accreditation; (2) recruiting at least four qualified core faculty members; (3) establishing training rotations with five regional healthcare partners; (4) enrolling two to four residents annually; (5) increasing local surgical service capacity by 10%; (6) reducing surgical consultation wait times by 15% within three years of program implementation; and (7) decreasing referral outmigration for general surgery services by 10%. Residents will participate in inpatient, outpatient, emergency, and community-based clinical experiences while engaging in quality improvement initiatives, preventive care, population health activities, and community outreach. Program evaluation will include resident performance, surgical case volumes, accreditation benchmarks, workforce retention, and patient access measures. Expected short-term outcomes include successful accreditation, program implementation, increased surgical staffing capacity, and improved access to consultations and procedures. Intermediate outcomes include increased surgical case volume, improved continuity of care, reduced travel burdens, shorter wait times, and stronger regional partnerships. Long-term outcomes include a sustainable rural surgical workforce pipeline, improved physician recruitment and retention, earlier diagnosis and treatment of surgical conditions, reduced preventable complications, greater health outcomes, and enhanced healthcare system resilience throughout Mercer County and the broader Appalachian region. By e
