Teaching Health Center (THC) Graduate Medical Education (GME) Payment Program - Since 2015, Barrio Comprehensive Health Care Centers, d.b.a CommuniCare, has partnered with the University of the Incarnate World School of Osteopathic Medicine to join the Texas Institute of Graduate Medical Education and Research (TIGMER) residency programs. In 2017 and through this partnership, the first Community-Based Family Medicine (CBFM) Residency Program class was inaugurated. Every year, prospective residents from throughout the nation are interviewed to join the residency program, with eight being chosen to take part. The program gives residents the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and train under the guidance of Board-Certified CommuniCare faculty, thus, enabling them with the knowledge and skills to deliver community-oriented, patient-centered, high-quality care to rural and underserved populations and enhance overall access to medical treatment. The Board-Certified faculty members also help the residents to develop strong clinical inquiry skills, thus ensuring they are prepped for success in their future endeavors. Our West Campus, CommuniCare’s oldest and largest site, is the primary clinic site for the residency program. Here, the residents serve patients with the highest quality of care and help the patients to get well and to stay well. With all this in mind, we are applying to the THCGME funding opportunity as an expansion applicant. Through this expansion program, we are requesting 6 total resident FTE positions to be funded under this program for all postgraduate years of training. For the first AY of funding, we are requesting 2 Resident FTE positions. This will increase the total number of residents in this program by 6 residents throughout the entirety of this program and will allow the current program to grow from 8 residents per year to 10 residents per year by year three of the grant program. The funds from this opportunity will allow for the sustained growth of the program to have an even greater impact on our community. In addition to the training experiences at CommuniCare, the residents are able to rotate through our 14 training partners in the consortium, which include hospitals, hospice facilities, specialty care facilities, and veteran’s facilities. All partners provide a unique experience that provides a wide array of skills for residents. These rotations include but are not limited to inpatient OB/GYN, mental health, veterans’ care, geriatric care, emergency medicine, vascular surgery, gastroenterology, or sports medicine. These rotations are already part of the current program and will continue to be available as we grow our program. For additional information on CommuniCare please visit www.communicaresa.org or for TIGMER please visit www.tigmer.com.
