NM gets physician residency grant

$1.5M to help establish rural physician residency programs

Almost $1.5 million in grant funding is headed to New Mexico to help establish rural physician residency programs in Otero County and Gallup, members of the congressional delegation announced Wednesday.

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy will award about $1.5 million to the Otero County Hospital Association in Alamogordo and Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services Inc., in Gallup through the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program. Both organizations will individually receive up to $750,000 over a three-year period to develop new rural residency programs while achieving accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The organizations were selected as part of only 27 total nationwide.

“This critical funding will help retain physicians in rural communities and ensure that New Mexicans have reliable access to health care in their own communities,” said U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. “This is important progress.”

David Conejo, CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services, said in a release the grant will make it possible to start a family medicine residency program for medical students from the region, which would address the chronic shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said the funding was an important step toward expanding the rural physician workforce, “which is desperately needed in New Mexico.”

“Additional rural residencies are critical to growing and keeping rural physicians to ensure our more remote and underserved communities have access to the health care they need and aren’t forced to travel to urban centers for non-emergency treatment,” the New Mexico Democrat said.

Jim Heckert, CEO of Otero County Hospital Association, said primary care recruiting is a significant challenge for rural hospitals.

“Adding the fact that the New Mexico average age of physician is 60, number one among all states, we needed to find different answers,” he said in a release. He said his organization would be working with Memorial Hospital of Las Cruces to establish a rural family medicine residency program in Alamogordo.

“These new residencies are a critical step in recruiting and retaining a new generation of doctors to serve our rural communities,” said U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., said rural New Mexico residents needed greater access to health care and said many had to travel a great distance to get the care they need. “The expansion of rural residency programs helps meet that mission,” she said.