The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and Banner Health announced June 22 a partnership to increase residency and fellowship positions for UArizona College of Medicine students in Phoenix.
The expansion of their Graduate Medical Education programs with 229 additional residency and fellowship positions. The initiative will expand three programs in 2024 and build 16 new programs by 2027, growing the number of specialty-trained physicians through the partnership by more than 60 percent, a statement said.
“These new positions are critically needed to address the national and regional physician shortages,” said Michael Kupferman, MD, senior vice president of physician enterprise and president of the Banner – University Medicine Division. “Recognizing that most doctors choose to practice medicine where they were trained, we are excited to advance this opportunity to bring new physicians to Arizona who will hopefully remain in the region to care for our population. Retaining our exceptionally trained residents and fellows within the Banner Health system will further support our mission of providing outstanding medical care across the state.”
The expansion of the Graduate Medical Education program between UArizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and Banner Health will focus adding more than 140 new family medicine and internal medicine resident positions coming to Banner Payson Medical Center, Banner Desert Medical Center and Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center, Banner Health will increase access to primary care training within the state. Currently, Arizona ranks 44th among the 50 states in primary care physicians per capita.
In addition, new programs in anesthesiology, dermatology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology and otolaryngology will be introduced. The expansion plan also includes increasing the number of neurology and surgery residency positions. Collectively, these specialties will welcome 64 residents.
The new fellowship offerings will allow 21 fellows to train across seven new programs. In a later phase, further residency programs may be developed.
“This is the culmination of a vision developed in concert with our partners at Banner Health aimed at shrinking our state’s health care workforce shortage,” said Dean Guy Reed, MD, MS, said about the agreement, which was recently approved by the Academic Management Council.
AZ Healthy Tomorrow
This announcement from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix comes on the heels of the Arizona Board of Regents AZ Healthy Tomorrow announcement, which aims to curb the growing health care workforce shortage in Arizona. ABOR will invest $30 million in several initiatives from Arizona’s three public research universities. The University of Arizona has been working with Banner Health in Tucson to develop a fully integrated academic medical center, and Arizona State University announced its plans for ASU Health, which includes plans for a new school of medicine and bioengineering, a school of public health technology, and a public health observatory. Northern Arizona University will announce its plans this fall.
Fred DuVal, chair-elect of the ABOR described as “the most aggressive and comprehensive health care plan in Arizona’s history,” the agreement between Banner Health and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix will ensure that physicians who wish to practice where they were trained is greatly expanded.