Fort Worth Medical Community Joins Hands on New Graduate-level, School-affiliated Physician Residency Program

Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center Fort Worth and the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine will be collaborating on an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited physician resident training program that will eventually train more than 150 physicians annually. The collaboration will be a boon not only for the medical community in Fort Worth, but also for residents of North Texas as it helps to address a growing need for physicians in the Fort Worth area.

“We are honored to be working alongside a like-minded organization in Baylor Scott & White – Fort Worth,” said Stuart Flynn, MD, dean of the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “With the combination of both organizations’ available resources and aligned mission, we can create a robust and rich academic environment in the Fort Worth community.”

In 2020, the ACGME-accredited program will interview and select its first cohort of medical school graduates, who will begin their residencies at Baylor Scott & White Fort Worth in July of 2021 in the areas of internal medicine and emergency medicine. The program will add residents each year, reaching a peak of more than 150 residency positions in the 2027-2028 academic year. Additional programs will include OB/GYN, general surgery, anesthesia, as well as a transitional year program. Fellowship training programs in specialties such as cardiology, oncology, hepatology, and nephrology are also being considered. The program complements existing graduate medical education in Fort Worth, providing more options for new physician graduates in an important collaboration with the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, one of the newest medical schools in the nation.

“I am so excited to see this collaboration between the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine and Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth.  This is the kind of announcement we envisioned happening when the new medical school opened,” said Mayor Betsy Price, City of Fort Worth. “This will further the city’s ability to attract and retain the best minds in medicine, keeping our community healthier.  We aspire to show Fort Worth as a city where medical innovation is not only taking place, but evolving.”

Hosting medical residencies in Fort Worth is critical to keeping physicians in Texas. In Texas, 59 percent of residents stay in-state after training.  If they attend medical school and do their residency in Texas, that number jumps to 81 percent. This new collaboration is an academic-aligned program, allowing for competitive recruitment of top medical school graduates from Texas and across the U.S.

While student enrollment in Texas medical schools has increased 32 percent over the last 10 years, residency and fellowship opportunities have only increased 19 percent during that same period, forcing 40 percent of new graduate physicians to leave the state for training. Physicians often choose to settle in areas near where they completed their residencies, so keeping medical students in Texas – and specifically Fort Worth – is key to availability of medical expertise in coming years.

Texas currently ranks 41 out of the 50 states with 219.4 physicians per 100,000 residents. The national median is 257.6, according to data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, making it one of the worst shortages in the country. Federal regulations, cost, complexity and capped reimbursement often prevent new residency positions from being created, so the news of more residency positions is welcome.

 “With our ongoing dedication to excellent patient care, this collaboration will further opportunities for medical education and research, benefitting the community as a whole,” said Mike Sanborn, MS RPh, FACHE, president, Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth. “Our goal is to build upon this foundation that echoes the pillars of outstanding teaching hospitals: patient care, education, and research.”

In regard to ACGME residencies, Baylor Scott & White is a leader in Texas, offering a combined total of nearly 800 residencies at its facilities across the state. Residency programs have been shown to improve quality of care, patient outcomes and improved patient experience. The programs also increase access to care for uninsured and underinsured population through community clinic rotations. Baylor Scott & White Fort Worth currently hosts medical students for their undergraduate medical rotations in internal medicine, general surgery and OB/GYN. The hospital also hosts students from Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and nursing students from TCU, the University of Texas at Arlington, and other area nursing schools. With the addition of ACGME-accredited training programs to its educational offerings, the hospital will become a university medical center in acknowledgement of its teaching and research capabilities.

“We understand the importance of creating opportunities for the next generation of medical providers and we are excited to serve as a TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine medical education site,” said Dr. Kollier Hinkle, the residency program’s lead physician.  “We are committed to teaching best practices through evidence-based medicine and research.”

Physician trainees at Baylor Scott & White Fort Worth will have access to modern residency training techniques with deep physician engagement and hands-on interaction to address the future of medicine by delivering patient-centered care in a rapidly evolving field. The program will be an extension of the commitment that TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine has to educate a physician of the future, namely those who are Empathetic Scholars™ that are just as accomplished in communication skills as they are in clinical practice. The program also meets the stringent requirements set forth nationally by the ACGME.

For more information on the program, please visit Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Ft. Worth and TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

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