The Indiana State Graduate Medical Education Board has approved $2.5 million in grant funds for the development and expansion of the Southwest Indiana Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Sponsored through Indiana University School of Medicine, the grant will support a new internal medicine residency program in southwest Indiana located at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes and utilize clinical opportunities at St. Vincent Evansville.
Selection criteria for the grant included funding priorities for residency programs that are collaborative in nature and produce graduates who practice in underserved or rural areas of Indiana. In 2015, in an effort to address physician shortages and expand teaching sites throughout the state, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation establishing the Medical Residency Education Fund and the Graduate Medical Education Board.
Sustainable state funding, combined with matching financial support from communities and local hospitals, will close the gap between the number of new medical school graduates and the first year GME residency positions available in Indiana. As a result, more physicians will be available to provide needed health care services to Hoosiers.
The number of medically underserved populations and health profession shortage areas located in and around Knox and Vanderburgh counties will give residents the opportunity to make an impact with populations where services are needed most. St. Vincent also operates a rural critical access hospital in Warrick County, providing additional clinical experiences for residents.
New programs in family medicine and psychiatry received grant support in 2018 and began in July. Now all three programs will receive funding and support 87 new physician resident slots over the next four years in southwest Indiana. The Southwest Indiana Internal Medicine Residency Program will begin in July 2020.
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IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability.