FAYETTEVILLE -- A new internal medicine residency program is the first step in a plan to add about 92 more residency positions to Northwest Arkansas.
The three-year, community-based program by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Regional Campus and Washington Regional Medical Center was announced Monday in a news release. It will add eight medical residency slots to the region.
The new internal medicine program is recruiting for its first class, which will begin in July, according to the release.
Northwest Arkansas and the state need more medical residency spots, according to Ryan Cork, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Council's health care division. Arkansas currently graduates 200 more medical students each year than there are residency slots, causing many graduates to leave the state, Cork said.
Residency training is required after graduation from medical school in order to become a licensed, practicing physician in the United States.
More medical residencies in the region will allow more graduates to stay in or move to Northwest Arkansas in addition to increasing the health care workforce, according to Cork. Expanding educational opportunities and increasing the number of health care jobs is important as health care systems in the region prepare for significant population growth over the coming years, he said.
The council, a nonprofit with members from the region's largest business, education and health care organizations, commissioned a health care study in 2019.
The study estimated new residency training programs will have an annual economic impact of $715,000 per medical resident. According to that projection, eight new residents would have an economic impact of over $5.7 million.
In June 2021, UAMS Northwest and Washington Regional announced graduate medical education programs expected to bring an estimated 92 residency slots to the region by 2030. Ninety-two residents would have a projected annual economic impact of $65.8 million, according to the council's study.
The Arkansas Legislative Council approved using nearly $12.5 million from the state's restricted reserve fund to pay for the plan.
Washington Regional has built a 6,000-square-foot suite for the residents, according to the release.
Sheena CarlLee, program director and assistant professor of internal medicine at UAMS, said training in clinical reasoning, critical thinking, teaching, research and care delivery to diverse populations will distinguish the new residency program.
"The success of our program is essential to meeting the health care needs of Arkansans and aligns with our regional and institutional missions to educate future health care professionals and provide patient-centered primary and specialized care at an academic level not otherwise available in this region," she said.
Mentorship and hands-on training at Washington Regional will also be a part of the program, said David Ratcliff, a faculty member of the program and chief medical officer at Washington Regional.
Every subspecialty of internal medicine will be accessible for residents through clinical experiences at the hospital, according to the release. Subspecialties of internal medicine include cardiology, geriatrics, hematology and gastroenterology and others, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Emergency medicine, neurology, general surgery and transitional year residency programs are in the works, according to Cork. Those programs will likely begin between 2024 and 2026, he said.
Earlier this year, Washington Regional announced a partnership with the Alice L. Walton Foundation with the goal of creating a regional health care system to expand access to specialty care. The partnership came after a 2021 joint initiative with similar goals between the foundation and the Cleveland Clinic.
The Northwest Arkansas Council's 2019 report estimated the area was missing out on nearly $1 billion a year in health care revenue, largely because people travel elsewhere for specialty care. As a result, the organization recommended expanding the region's graduate medical education, developing an interdisciplinary research institute and establishing a medical school.