Recent News
April 03, 2024
DHSS announces awards for new physician residency training slots to increase access to health care service
$2.2 million in grants spur public-private partnerships to grow Missouri’s physician workforce
Media Contact:
Lisa Cox
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Five Missouri Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs will expand due to a new state-funded grant program implemented by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). These grant awards will help hospitals, health systems and educational entities train more medical school graduates to address health care access challenges and workforce shortages in Missouri’s highest-need areas.
“This grant program is a critical step toward improving and expanding access to high-quality health care in our state,” said Paula F. Nickelson, director of DHSS. “By supporting medical residency programs in rural and underserved areas, we can better ensure that Missourians have access to the type of health care services they need when they need them.”
GME is the mandatory, multi-year residency training after medical school graduation, which is required for full physician licensure. Fifty-six percent of students from Missouri who attend a medical school and do their residency training in Missouri ultimately stay here to practice. Missouri loses at least one-third of its medical school graduates to other states due to a lack of residency slots.
DHSS awarded five grants to support nine new residency slots for the duration of the resident's training period (three to four years) to the following Missouri programs:
- Mercy Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program, St. Louis
- Mercy Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, St. Louis
- University of Missouri School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program, Columbia
- SSM Health Care Psychiatry Residency Program, St. Louis
- SSM Health Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, St. Louis
This grant program will support the training of at least 90 new physicians through funding over the next 10 years. Missouri needs an additional 1,000 physicians to address workforce shortages in Missouri’s highest-need areas.
The awarded GME programs are required to provide additional funds or in-kind resources to supplement the newly created residency positions, increasing the public and private investment for GME in Missouri to advance the state’s goal of providing high-quality care to all Missourians.
Visit Health.Mo.Gov/GME to learn more about Missouri’s GME Grant Program.
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