Value-Based Medical Student Education Training Program - Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, the largest medical school in New Jersey, in partnership with an FQHC and four large health systems across the state, will enroll 69 medical students in a Pathways to Primary Care program that will inspire participants to choose residencies in primary care and practice in rural and underserved areas of New Jersey. New Jersey is facing a significant shortage of primary care physicians with only a 66 percent ability to meet projected needs by 2036. This shortage is particularly significant in family medicine, which is projected to meet only 48 percent of the need. Coupled with the physician shortage is the maldistribution of physicians across the state, with the southern counties, including Salem and Cumberland counties, facing extreme levels of physician shortages. In Salem County, there are just 16 primary care physicians for a population of 65,338 residents, representing 0.22 percent of the primary care physician workforce of New Jersey. The physician shortage has translated to the worst health outcomes and life expectancies in Salem and nearby Cumberland Counties in New Jersey. To address physician shortages, RowanSOM expanded its medical school to include a new campus that opened in July 2022. RowanSOM currently enrolls 288 students each year making it the largest medical school in New Jersey. In 2024, Rowan Medicine opened a new campus in Cumberland County that will provide increased training for medical students in the Salem/Cumberland regions. Currently, over 46.5 percent of RowanSOM students match to a primary care residency, and 50 percent of our alumni practice in New Jersey after graduation. RowanSOM proposes a Pathways to Careers in Primary Care program that will interface with these developments to build the physician workforce across that state with a particular emphasis on the Salem and Cumberland County regions, which are most in need. Key components of the program include did actic lectures in primary care focused on emerging topics that affect the health of residents in underserved areas, a Primary Care Scholars Program that will offer half-tuition scholarships to 54 participants over three years, and clinical immersion experiences in pediatrics, internal medicine, and family medicine in rural and medical underserved areas of New Jersey through partnerships with Southern Jersey Family Medical Centers, Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, CarePoint, Inspira Health, Capital Health, Rowan Family Medicine and the Regional Integrated Special Needs Center. Other innovative components include mobile Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine clinics in medically underserved areas, a Careers in Primary Care Seminar Series, and academic support services that include tutoring, wellness, and examination preparation services to enhance retention. Students will also participate in a Primary Care Careers Research Experiences to Accelerate Training and Education called CREATE, program in the summer months, during which they will work with primary care physicians to design projects to enhance primary care practice. Accelerated programs being developed include a 3 plus 4 program with a community college and a 3 plus 3 plus 3 program that will allow individuals to complete undergraduate, medical school, and a primary care residency in just 9 years after high school. A Postbaccalaureate Bridge to Primary Care Program will provide academic support to students so they can successfully enroll in medical school and enroll in the Pathways program. The project will be led by the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at RowanSOM. A process and outcome evaluation of the project is planned through the Office of the Dean.
