Monday, June 29, 2015

New residency program to bring physicians in training to Reid

Another step ‘to take Reid to the next level’

Regional media and Reid team members gather for announcement in Reid’s Governing Board Room.
RAW VIDEO LINKS to conference recordings: https://video.reidhospital.org/Watch/rpc

Reid is offering a Family Medicine Residency program starting this summer, which ultimately could bring up to 18 family medicine residents to the community with up to six for each calendar year. The program is affiliated with Marian University college of Osteopathic Medicine in Indianapolis and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience in Kansas City, Mo.

“This is great news, not only for Reid Physician Associates, but also for the communities we serve,” said Craig Kinyon, Reid President/CEO. “This provides us another great resource in our ongoing efforts to meet the health care needs of the region by expanding our provider team and being able to offer outstanding care to more patients.”

Kinyon said the program also positions the Reid system in a more competitive place in ongoing efforts to recruit and keep physicians in the region. “And we are competing with the entire country in finding, attracting and keeping a strong supply of physicians to care for our communities. This program is another positive for us to share with potential candidates.”

Phillip Scott, D.O., Family Medicine Program Director, said the approval by the American Osteopathic Association is the culmination of an extensive process to establish a training program for family medicine specialists. "Residency programs are the key to training physicians. It begins with graduation from medical school in which all students are given a common foundation. Residency programs provide the training to bring these newly minted physicians into the discipline in which they hope to practice. For family medicine this is a three-year training commitment in which the residents learn the breadth and depth of family medicine. Residents will spend time in virtually every medical discipline that Reid offers, as well as developing their skills in a family medicine clinic that will provide services to the community."

Tom Huth, M.D., Reid Vice President/Medical Affairs, said the program further establishes Reid as a regional medical and educational center. “This is a natural development of our programs that are already providing clinical clerkships for third and fourth-year medical students through Indiana University,” Huth said.

Annuradha Bhandari, M.D., Associate Residency Program Director, said she served as chief resident during her own time in a program in Detroit and knows first-hand how it benefits the health system. “This is another step to take Reid to the next level,” she said. “Reid, to me, already functions as an academic center. A residency program has a trickle effect on all aspects of hospital training, with nursing staff, physician assistants and others. It is exciting, and it makes sense for Reid to be an academic hub in this area.”

Bhandari said the planned program was a factor in her decision to join the Reid team, and she believes it will be for other physician candidates. “Doctors want to be in a place where medicine is moving; it will have a good effect on recruitment.”

Kinyon agreed, noting that the existing clerkship and residency programs will help make Reid and RPA even more competitive in efforts to attract new providers in the extremely competitive national health care environment. The program also is a testament to the commitment by Reid’s Governing Board and medical staff to the importance of attracting and training physicians to the family practice specialty.

“Family care by a physician is the heart, the center of ensuring our communities are healthy and thriving,” Kinyon said. “A health care system cannot survive without cultivating and growing its team of providers. And Reid is committed to this cause with this program, and our longstanding dedication of resources for many years to the cause of recruiting and keeping physicians in the communities we serve.”

Charles Henley, D.O., Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs with Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine, said the school is excited to work with Reid’s program. “Residents need strong teaching centers and we see Reid not only offers the strength of experienced physicians, but also a great community in which they can locate for their learning. The college understands the need to create more opportunities for graduate medical education in Indiana and fully supports the residency program at Reid.”

Huth said the residency participants, the first of whom started June 22, will live in the community and work at Reid and in RPA physician offices. “For our patients, it means that they will participate in the training of new physicians, which many of them are pleased to do. Additionally, patients will benefit from the new knowledge and accelerated teaching for residents and attending doctors that come about as a part of an academic environment. For the community, this raises the bar of the quality of doctors and support staff who will be recruited to participate in the teaching program and it raises Reid’s and Richmond’s image in the state as a high quality, academic medical center.”

Jon Ford, chair of the Reid Governing Board, said having the program will make Reid stand out even more as a great choice for physicians seeking a place to practice and raise their families. “Our experienced physicians are excited about the program and it is another example of Reid’s continuous efforts at thinking forward.”

The leadership team of the program will include:

  • Tom Huth, M.D., Reid Vice President of Medical Affairs – Executive Sponsor.
  • Phillip Scott, D.O., Program Director
  • Annuradha Bhandari, M.D., Associate Program Director
  • Roy Teng, D.O., Director of Graduate Medical Education
  • Paul Rider, M.D., Director of Continuing Medical Education
  • Lynda McClelland, Residency Coordinator

Other facts:

  • 2015 is the first year that the number of students graduating from U.S. medical schools will exceed the number of positions available.
  • A resident is a physician who participates in an approved residency program.
  • A residency program is required for a minimum of one-year for licensure and three to five years for most specialties and is required for board certification.
  • Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, or D.O.s, are licensed physicians who can practice in all specialty areas. They complete approximately four years of medical school followed by graduate medical education through internship and residency programs typically lasting three to eight years.

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